Conservative Christian leader James Dobson — who founded Focus on the Family and was once called "the nation's most influential evangelical leader " — died Thursday, according to a statement from the Dr. James Dobson Family Institute.

A child psychologist by training, Dobson grew to prominence in the 1970s through his parenting advice in books like "Dare to Discipline." Through this work, he influenced a generation of evangelical parents.

He founded Focus on the Family in 1977, and later helped establish the Christian think tank Family Research Council in the early '80s. He advocated strongly against abortion rights, opposed evolution being taught in schools, and worked against LGBTQ+ rights. Focus on the Family has said that homosexuality is a "particularly evil lie of Sat

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