IRD Blows Smoke in Response to Expose Film

By Frederick Clarkson
Mon Mar 24, 2008 at 07:34:53 PM EST

The oxymoronically named Institute on Religion and Democracy for a generation has sought to disrupt and divide the major denominations of mainline Protestantism, as well as the wider ecumenical communions, the National Council of Churches and the World Council of Churches. Even more remarkably perhaps, while presenting itself an agency dedicated to reform and "renewal" of the churches, IRD's leadership and staff have been substantially populated by men and women who are not even members of any of the churches they say they seek to "renew."

I mention all this, because IRD Methodist program staffers Mark Tooley and John Lomperis recently issued a sliming of Steven D. Martin's DVD discussion of the agency: Renewal or Ruin: The Institute on Religion & Democracy's Attack on the United Methodist Church. Martin has written

I was able to produce "Renewal or Ruin?" using only personal funds. I wanted to avoid the accusation that it had been made by someone with an agenda. I wanted to be as fair, and as firm, as I could be. You can see the results of the project by visiting www.ird-info.com, and by viewing the trailer for the video.