"He's deliberately distorting the traditional understanding of the Bible to fit his own world view, his own confused theology," Dobson said.
OBAMA RESPONDS
But Obama said the speech was in no way an attempt to interpret the Bible.
"It is a speech that affirms the role of faith in, not just my life, but the life of the American people, that suggests that we make a mistake by trying to push faith out of the public square," Obama said.
"I do make the argument that it's important for those who, like myself, for whom faith is important, that we try to translate some of our concerns into a universal language so that we can have an open and vigorous debate, rather than having religion divide us," he said. "There's no theological work being done in that speech."
A fair reading of the speech shows that Obama is committed to working across religious lines, Joshua DuBois, the candidate's director of religious affairs, said in a statement.
Polls show evangelicals are slowly moving away from the Republican Party, though Obama's support of abortion rights and gay rights are likely to give pause to many.
Dobson has led efforts to outlaw abortion and gay marriage and helped get out the vote among evangelicals in Bush's 2004 re-election.
Democrats hope to win the support of younger, more centrist evangelicals who are concerned about global warming and poverty as well as abortion, the movement's traditional rallying point.
Obama, unlike past Democratic candidates, speaks frequently about his Christian faith.
