DENVER — Dr. James Dobson is stepping down as chairman of Focus on the Family, the conservative religious group announced yesterday, a change that comes as the political movement Dobson has long embodied is torn by questions over its direction and priorities.

Dobson, 72, will continue to broadcast his popular radio show, write books and newsletters, speak out on family issues and retain a prominent role at the Colorado Springs-based group that he founded in 1977.

"He'll continue to be a voice to be reckoned with," spokesman Gary Schneeberger said. "He'll still be very front and center."

Dobson will be replaced by retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Patrick P. Caruana, who has been on the organization's board since 1996.

Jim Daly, who replaced Dobson as Focus' chief executive six years ago, said the organization will "forever be committed to the fulfillment of the mission so definitively served by both Dr. and Mrs. Dobson — helping families thrive."

The move comes as evangelicals nationwide are reconsidering their movement's tie to the Republican Party and to wedge issues such as gay marriage that Dobson has long emphasized.

"It's very symbolic, the handing off of evangelical leadership to the next generation, whoever that may be," said the Rev. Joel Hunter, senior pastor of Northland, A Church Distributed, in Orlando, Fla.

Dobson initially opposed Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., in the 2008 Republican primary but grudgingly backed the eventual GOP presidential nominee against Barack Obama, whom Dobson sharply criticized.

Other evangelical leaders, such as Hunter, who offered the benediction at the 2008 Democratic National Convention, have been less confrontational with President Obama and are shifting their focus to issues like global warming and combating poverty.

"I think, if anything, it's less enticing for him to be continuing to do this because the Republicans are out of power and because of the identity crisis" in the movement, said Bill Leonard, dean of Wake Forest University in North Carolina and a scholar of evangelicals. "His voice is less central, certainly, to the religious political issues and a new generation of evangelicals."

Focus on the Family and Dobson said yesterday that his resignation had nothing to do with any rifts or changing attitudes within the evangelical community.

In a statement, Dobson said, "One of the common errors of founder-presidents is to hold to the reins of leadership too long, thereby preventing the next generation from being prepared for executive authority."

Attendance at evangelical churches has dropped since its peak in the 1990s, and a wide range of religious groups have had to make cuts in the current downturn. Among them is Focus on the Family, which laid off 200 workers in November.

In the late 1970s, Dobson quit his jobs as a psychologist at Childrens Hospital in Los Angeles and as a pediatrics professor at the University of Southern California to host a family advice program. He and his wife, Shirley, founded Focus in 1977 after the publication of "Dare to Discipline," a book that bemoaned permissive parenting and advocated the spanking of children. He moved the group to Colorado Springs in 1991.

Although its work revolves around providing religious-based advice to parents, the group has become known nationally for Dobson's forays into politics. Such is Dobson's clout that Karl Rove called him to rally support for President George W. Bush's nomination of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court.

Dobson backed former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee in the 2008 Republican primary and declared that he could not vote for McCain "as a matter of conscience."

But he warmed up after McCain chose Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate, and attacked Obama for "distorting the traditional understanding of the Bible."

Focus and Dobson have tried to separate his political statements from the group's core mission, often saying he is speaking as a private citizen. For years, though, Focus has worked on a transition plan to ensure the organization endures after Dobson leaves.

Other religious leaders said it was a logical move.

"There's a whole group of us who started to gather in the mid-'70s," said the Rev. Donald Wildmon, who founded the American Family Association in 1977. "Some of my friends, five, six, seven leaders, have already died. You prepare for the day so when the day comes, the ministry can go on. I look for Focus to go on."