Popular Culture Review Vol. 16, No. 1, Spring 2005 | Page 56

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Popular Culture Review
materials asking residents to vote against retaining Neary.
Neary told The Sioux City Journal that he is not an activist
judge and is not out to change the definition of marriage. He
said he was simply resolving a dispute between two parties.
Dobson “is dead wrong if he thinks I favor same-sex
marriages or same-sex unions. The truth of the matter is, I
don’t. I am just as firm a believer as he is in the sanctity of
traditional marriage,” Neary said.
Dr. Dobson is obviously unfamiliar with or uninterested in the
professional ethics Judge Neary demonstrated in rendering his decision. But
that’s the essence of Dobson’s theocratic thinking: no separation of church and
state, no separation of personal beliefs and professional responsibilities. What he
calls “activist judges” are men and women charged with upholding existing laws
that mandate all citizens be treated equally, regardless of the jurist’s personal
beliefs. Nevertheless, the faith-based conservative group Iowa Family Policy
Center—with FOF’s “moral” support—launched a campaign to have District
Judge Neary from northwest Iowa voted off the bench. The legal community
staunchly defended Neary based on