Institute on Religion and Democracy

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The Institute on Religion and Democracy (IRD) is an interdenominational association of religious rights in the United States . Its members come from the Presbyterian Church , the United Methodist Church , the Episcopal Church , but also from the Roman Catholic , Orthodox and other Protestant churches.

The organization promotes conservative movements within the mainline churches and seeks to influence the decision-making of three of the mainline churches - namely the Presbyterian Church , the United Methodist Church , and the Episcopal Church - as the institute solves the problems of these church leaderships for the most serious assesses. Among the problems they include “the pursuit of radical political agendas” that “cannot be justified by either Scripture or Christian tradition” but represent “ left crusades”: “ Feminism , environmental awareness , multiculturalism , revolutionary socialism , sexual liberation , etc. . “It is also critical of the National Council of Churches and the World Council of Churches , as they too are, in its opinion, too liberal, and instead advocates conservative values.

History and direction

The IRD was founded in 1981 by Christian, neo-conservative intellectuals such as Michael Novak , Richard John Neuhaus and Penn Kemble . According to its own statement, the foundation should promote education for democracy and be a funding organization of the Coalition for a Democratic Majority . It should act as a counterbalance to progressive Christian organizations such as the National Council of Churches and the World Council of Churches . Among other things, the IRD opposed Latin American liberation theology and ran an aggressive media campaign to support the Reagan government's policies in Central America . It accused leading representatives of the churches of campaigning for Marxist goals and, in turn, advocated an increase in the military budget, an interventionist foreign policy and against the expansion or restriction of the rights of gays and lesbians . This policy sees it as a "renewal of democratic society" (according to the institute's own website) at home and abroad.

Management and funding

According to its own statements, the Institute on Religion and Democracy has around 2500 members and was headed by Chairman Dr. Paul Marshall. The institute draws the funds for its work from a large number of foundations and various sources of income. In 1982 it had a budget of around US $ 350,000, around US $ 200,000 of which came from the Scaife Family Charitable Trusts / Scaife Foundations of the conservative American Richard Mellon Scaife . Further funding comes from the Coors family and their brewery assets.

criticism

Critics (both Christian and non-Christian) describe the Institute's policies as nationalist , homophobic , sexist and racist . In her book The Neo-conservative Offensive, Ana Maria Ezcurra counts among the goals of the IRD the dismantling of the legitimacy of the current church leadership and the triggering of schisms in internal church bodies. Some claim to find confirmation of Ezcurra's theories in the behavior of the American Anglican Council, which is closely associated with the IRD . Peter Steinfels, editor of the independent Roman Catholic journal Commonweal , also accused the institute of duplicity for promoting its own political agenda in the name of general Christianity. Steinfels went on to argue that the IRD had made "an arsenal of vague and damaging allegations" capable of "slandering a wide range of church leaders."

The institute was also against the African National Congress and criticized the commitment of the World Council of Churches in the fight against apartheid as a sign of the left tendency of leading churches and their ecumenical bodies. The IRD also accused medical projects in Nicaragua of Baptist mission associations of collaborating with the Sandinista, which made the work of these institutions considerably more difficult because it made them targets for the Contras .

After the end of the Cold War , the institute changed its focus to concentrate on exerting influence in domestic church bodies and leadership in the USA. For example, from 2001 to 2004 it carried out a project called "Reforming America's Churches", in which it solicited donations with which it could influence the democratic self-government of churches to which the donors may not even belong.

Daniel Webster of the Anglican Witness Magazine accuses the Institute on Religion and Democracy of being responsible for the looming split in the Anglican Church.

Web links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ About IRD: Purpose Statement ( Memento from January 9, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
  2. ↑ https://theird.org/about/our-history/
  3. ^ Institute on Religion and Democracy 1985-2002 grant files at MediaTransparency ( Memento from April 25, 2006 in the Internet Archive )
  4. ^ Ana Maria Ezcurra: The Neo-conservative Offensive. CIRCUS Publications, 1982.
  5. ^ "New Conservative Theology" by Peter Steinfels in the journal "democracy", April 1982: "a distinct political agenda while claiming only a broad Christian concern"
  6. ↑ ibid
  7. ↑ Fred Clark: IRD and the CEPAD Affair
  8. ↑ 10 years ago: IRD and the CEPAD Affair
  9. ^ Daniel J. Webster: This Schism is Brought to You by the IRD ( August 13, 2006 memento in the Internet Archive ), in Witness Magazine, April 27, 2006