COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. ? To millions of conservative Christians, James Dobson and his Focus on the Family ministry have emerged as a life preserver in an American culture, fending off assaults from popular culture and liberals.

“He’s trustworthy, he’s intelligent, he’s well-respected,” said the Rev. Ted Haggard, president of the National Association of Evangelicals representing more than 43,000 congregations. “If people would do what Jim Dobson suggests they would live a better life.”

Yet Dobson has also become a lightning rod for criticism by weighing in on major political issues, from stem cell research and abortion to tax credits for families. Last month, Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo., called him the “antichrist” and said he was trying to “hijack Christianity” by backing President Bush’s federal appeals court nominees.

Salazar, a Roman Catholic, later backed off the antichrist comment, but stood by his claim that Dobson’s ministry has become an arm of the Republican Party.

Dobson, who insists his organization backs only issues, not parties or candidates, isn’t about to back down either. He says the strong rhetoric and emotions are no surprise at a time when there is fierce debate over the actions of the nation’s federal courts, which he describes as a “liberal stronghold.”

“The federal judiciary more and more is making the great moral decisions of our time,” Dobson said during a 75-minute interview with The Associated Press. He ticked off rulings involving abortion, the Pledge of Allegiance and the definition of marriage.

“This Supreme Court has co-opted for itself many of the issues that the American people ought to be making through their elected representatives,” he said. “The decisions that are coming down from the Supreme Court have profound implications for the family and for conservative concepts of morality.”

These are heady times for Dobson, who turned 69 last month and still puts in 12-hour days at the ministry he founded in 1977. The child psychologist reaches an estimated 220 million people in 160 countries through his radio broadcasts and his organization responds to about 10,000 telephone calls, letters and e-mails each day requesting books, recordings and advice on everything from marital strife to eating disorders. The group says its average listener is a mother of two in her 20s to 40s.

Organization officials like to say that 95 percent of what they do is about ministry and outreach. But it is the policy work — which accounts for the rest of the $150 million annual budget — that is drawing so much attention.

National Day of Prayer Task Force Chair Shirley Dobson, center, and her husband, James Dobson, walking behind third from right, are escorted to their seats as they arrive to attend ceremonies on the National Day of Prayer at the White House on May 5.

Focus on the Family launched a public policy arm a year ago: Some say its emergence and last November’s decision by voters in 11 states to outlaw gay marriage was no fluke.

“One would be foolish to minimize his (Dobson’s) impact,” Haggard said.

Dobson has met with President Bush more than once, though not at the ministry itself. Asked about the relationship between Focus on the Family and the White House, Focus officials said they participate in occasional conference calls.

“It’s not President Bush,” said Tom Minnery, the group’s vice president of public policy. “It’s not even Karl Rove. It’s lower-level people.”

Dobson himself offers restrained praise: He said Bush has always made the right decisions on issues like stem cell research, gay marriage and lower taxes. However, Dobson said he wished Bush would speak more often and more directly to issues conservative Christians hold dear.

“I think he has kept his campaign promises,” he said. “Has he articulated them the way a lot of us would want him to? No. But I think that’s not in his nature.”

Dobson was in Washington last week for meetings he would not detail, though the battle over Bush’s judicial nominees figured to be a prime topic. Like others, Dobson believes the fight will reach a boiling point over a conservative Supreme Court nominee.

He ridiculed a March ruling that outlawed the death penalty for juvenile criminals in which Justice Anthony Kennedy acknowledged “overwhelming” international opinion against the practice. Dobson said that sort of shift by the court amounts to “grounds for impeachment.”