Audio/Video Sound-bites
Faith McDonnell Speaks at UN Sudan Rally
Sudan Regime Change Rally (September 16, 2011)
Following increased reports of ethnic unrest in the Sudan, Faith McDonnell, Religious Liberty director, denounced the state-sponsored marginalization at a recent rally in New York City.
Known Only to God
Capital Visitor Center (January 04, 2011)
IRD Vice President Alan Wisdom preached at Truro Church in Fairfax, VA, on January 2, as part of an emphasis on the sanctity of human life. Wisdom’s sermon, entitled “Known Only to God,” was on Herod’s massacre of the innocent children of Bethlehem, as recounted in Matthew 2:13-23.
Human Rights Day (Part II)
Capitol Visitor Center (December 27, 2010)
In part two, Faith McDonnell speaks to about disparate actors that have formed powerful coalitions. At the same time, she discusses how to engage the next wave of activists.
Human Rights Day (Part I)
Capitol Visitor Center (December 27, 2010)
In part one, IRD Religious Liberty Programs Director Faith McDonnell speaks about the church's role in the battle against radical Islam. She also discusses how Sudan and the Ground Zero mosque proposal is dividing church leaders.
Human Rights Day
Secure Freedom Radio (December 16, 2010)
Faith McDonnell weighs in on the imminent January 4, 2011 vote in Sudan. Does the approaching referendum mean an approaching war?
Immigration Revisited (Part II)
Nyack College (December 2, 2010)
In part two, IRD President Mark Tooley continues his defense of sound responses to immigration in an increasingly smaller world. Representatives from four other organizations shared their views.
Immigration Revisited (Part I)
Nyack College (November 24, 2010)
IRD President Mark Tooley discusses the complicated nature of immigration and its proposed resolutions. The panel features representatives from the National Association of Evangelicals and Church World Service.
Liberal church coalition targets Israel (click on 'Hear Report' on right side of page)
American Family News Network: OneNewsNow.com (September 7, 2010)
The head of a Protestant renewal organization says a coalition of liberal church denominations clearly demonstrated its anti-Israel bias in a recent letter sent to President Obama.
George Soros’s Evangelicals
Issues, Etc Radio Program (August 30, 2010)
IRD President Mark Tooley speaks about the recently revealed funding connection between Jim Wallis' liberal evangelical Sojourners and atheist billionaire George Soros.
Views on reproductive technology exclude God (click on 'Hear Report' on right side of page)
American Family News Network: OneNewsNow.com (August 19, 2010)
A University of Kansas medical professor contends assisted reproductive technology (ART) has made parenthood possible for millions of families, but one organization points out the professor has glaringly failed to equate the role of God in childbirth.
Pleading for open immigration (click on 'Hear Report' on right side of page)
American Family News Network: OneNewsNow.com (August 9, 2010)
The passage of Arizona's immigration law, SB 1070, sent many of the religious left to their knees on behalf of "national liberalized immigration." The "Isaiah 58 Solidarity Vigil and Fast for Arizona" -- conceived by the Interfaith Immigration Coalition, a left-leaning religious lobby group -- organized eight weeks of what it called "constant prayer and public witness" that led up to the Arizona law's scheduled implementation.
PCUSA decision could've been worse (click on 'Hear Report' on right side of page)
American Family News Network: OneNewsNow.com (July 14, 2010)
A Protestant renewal organization says the recent resolution approved at the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church USA, which called on a U.S. boycott of Israel, was not as bad as it could have been.
Israeli divestiture back on PCUSA's front burner (click on 'Hear Report' on right side of page)
American Family News Network: OneNewsNow.com (July 2, 2010)
A Protestant renewal organization is hoping that the Presbyterian Church USA will reject the recommendation of pro-Palestinian activists for the denomination to endorse a resolution calling for divestment from the Jewish state.
Christian convert obtains asylum (click on 'Hear Report' on right side of page)
American Family News Network: OneNewsNow.com (June 30, 2010)
A U.S. immigration judge in San Diego has agreed to grant asylum to the son of a Hamas founder who spied for Israel and converted to Christianity. Faith McDonnell is director of religious liberty at the Institute on Religion & Democracy, which was one of the first organizations to go to bat for Yousef.
Deportation of Christian convert questioned (click on 'Hear Report' on right side of page)
American Family News Network: OneNewsNow.com (June 21, 2010)
The Institute on Religion & Democracy (IRD) is calling on members of Congress to intervene for a Muslim who converted to Christianity. Mosab Hassan Yousef, son of Sheikh Hassan Yousef, is currently being threatened with deportation from the U.S.
A Multifaith Seminary? Seriously?
AlbertMohler.com Radio (June 10, 2010)
Dr. Jerry Campbell, President of the Claremont School of Theology, recently announced that his United Methodist school will begin including Jewish and Muslim curriculum and students in order to prepare the next generation of ministers for the realities of an interfaith world. As he stated in his announcement, Dr. Campbell believes he is making history with this initiative. On today’s program, Dr. Mohler talks with Mr. Mark Tooley, President of the Institute on Religion and Democracy, about the meaning of this announcement and why it further proves that liberal theology is at odds with historic and Biblical Christianity.
Seminary plans cross-training with other faiths (click on 'Hear Report' on right side of page)
American Family News Network: OneNewsNow.com (June 9, 2010)
According to a Christian renewal alliance, a California seminary affiliated with the United Methodist Church is revisiting its plans to launch schools of ministry for non-Christians.
Condemn Israel, forgive North Korea (click on 'Hear Report' on right side of page)
American Family News Network: OneNewsNow.com (June 9, 2010)
The head of a Protestant renewal organization is blasting the religious left's hypocrisy in condemning Israel's defending itself while excusing the actions of real tyrannies like North Korea.
Bishop's theology makes Protestantism irrelevant (click on 'Hear Report' on right side of page)
American Family News Network: OneNewsNow.com (June 9, 2010)
The president of The Institute on Religion & Democracy (IRD) is encouraging conservative United Methodists to counteract institutions like Drew Seminary, which recently hosted a speaker who denies the basic tenets of the Christian faith.
Churches and Immigration Law
Religion & Ethics Newsweekly: PBS.org (May 21, 2010)
IRD President Mark Tooley, along with other religious leaders, weigh in the response to Arizona's immigration law. Many church leaders dogmatically oppose the legislation, citing the biblical injunction to care for the sojourner, while Tooley argues it is a public policy issue for which there is little scriptural guidance.
Iran on U.N. women's commission...you're kidding, right?
(click on 'Hear Report' on right side of page)
American Family News Network: OneNewsNow.com (May 10, 2010)
"The Institute on Religion & Democracy (IRD) says Iran has no place on a special United Nations Commission on the Status of Women.
"The IRD, co-signer of an open letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, has expressed deep concern over Iran's election to the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women. Faith McDonnell, religious liberty program director with the IRD, encourages churches to condemn the U.N.'s action."
Support for AZ law not grounded in bigotry
(click on 'Hear Report' on right side of page)
American Family News Network: OneNewsNow.com (May 4, 2010)
"Several liberal Protestant and evangelical officials spoke out harshly, not only against the new Arizona immigration law, but sharply condemning the alleged 'hateful' motive of those who support that law," reports Mark Tooley, president of The Institute on Religion & Democracy (IRD).
"To condemn [as] innately bigoted anyone who supports the enforcement of immigration law seems outrageous on the behalf of Christian leaders," he contends, commenting that those leaders must live in a sort of fantasy world.
'Enshrinement' of sharia a major threat
(click on 'Hear Report' on right side of page)
American Family News Network: OneNewsNow.com (April 28, 2010)
The Institute on Religion & Democracy is concerned that Christian groups are not fully realizing the threat posed by an expansion of sharia (Islamic law) in the West, and so it is calling upon churches to stand against global attempts to enshrine it.
Faith McDonnell, director of the religious liberty program at the IRD, highlights what she describes as a "trend" found in several countries "to capitulate to Islamist factions within the Muslim population" by enshrining sharia into the legal code, effectively creating a different set of rules for Muslims.
New film campaigns against Israel
(click on 'Hear Report' on right side of page)
American Family News Network: OneNewsNow.com (April 12, 2010)
The head of a Protestant renewal organization is blasting the so-called "evangelical left" for producing a film that is nothing more than anti-Israel propaganda.
With God on Our Side, released Thursday, rebuts pro-Israel Christians by trying to persuade them to champion the Palestinian cause. The filmmakers hope to increase U.S. pressure on Israel to accommodate Palestinian demands, facilitated by reduced U.S. evangelical support for Israel.
Do United Methodists really support healthcare bill?
(click on 'Hear Report' on right side of page)
American Family News Network: OneNewsNow.com (March 29, 2010)
The president of a religious watchdog group says a top government official has recognized United Methodist leaders for their liberal leanings.
"The religious left do not seem to accept a central premise of American democratic life, as well as... [the] historic Christian teaching that we should be wary and suspicious of unlimited power given to any person, group or institution, and that, in fact, Christians above all should be in the forefront of defending personal liberties against unlimited government," the IRD president comments.
Tooley: Immigration agenda basis for clergy call
(click on 'Hear Report' on right side of page)
American Family News Network: OneNewsNow.com (March 23, 2010)
The president of a religious watchdog group says a call from certain clergy members urging illegal immigrants to break the law undermines the credibility of the church and pastors throughout the nation.
Last week, the National Coalition of Latino Clergy and Christian Leaders urged illegal aliens not to fill out the U.S. Census forms that have begun to arrive in mailboxes. Rev. Miguel Rivera, the Coalition's chairman, said those who are in the country illegally should boycott the Census unless comprehensive immigration reform offers them a path to citizenship.
Unintended consequences of a lesbian bishop
(click on 'Hear Report' on right side of page)
American Family News Network: OneNewsNow.com (March 19, 2010)
A religious watchdog organization says the election of a lesbian as a bishop in the Episcopal Church will cause problems in a number of areas.
Mary Glasspool of Baltimore is now an assistant bishop in the Diocese of Los Angeles. Glasspool was elected last year but needed the full church's approval to be consecrated this spring.
Immigration Reform (Download MP3)
Wanda Sanchez, KFAX AM 1100, San Francisco Bay Area Salem Christian Radio (March 19, 2010)
Featuring IRD President, Mark Tooley.
The Left is Not Right (Part 1, Part 2)
Jan Markell, OnePlace.com (March 15, 2010)
Mark Tooley is recognized as the finest exposer of the antics of the religious Left. He and Jan discuss the major participants of the religious Left, the issues they oppose such as defending America (the world should be weaponless!), their loathing of Israel, the antics of Brian McLaren, and more. These Mainline denominational churches are shrinking but the real powerhouses are the World and National Council of Churches. Tooley represents the Institute for Religion and Democracy. (Part 2 tomorrow)
Voice of the Copts Press Conference at the Washington DC Press Club
Washington DC Press Club (March 12, 2010)
Faith McDonnell, The Institute on Religion and Democracy (IRD) speaks on the oppression of women under Sharia.
Events at Hudson Institute, Co-sponsered by The Institute on Religion & Democracy
Hudson Insitute
Watch Audio and Video of the events on Hudson's website:
Sudan's Comprehensive Peace Agreement: Five Years On (January 20, 2010)
Microfinance in South Sudan (November 18, 2009)
Is Khartoum Behind Recent Violence in South Sudan? (September 18, 20009)
Post CPA Sudan: Ongoing Violence and Violations and the Effect on Civil Society (January 11, 2009)
A Solution for All of Sudan: Linking Darfur and the South (December 18, 2007)
'Faith leaders' Undermine God's Plan for Marriage
(click on 'Hear Report' on right side of page)
American Family News Network: OneNewsNow.com (February 18, 2010)
An official with the Institute on Religion & Democracy (IRD) says it's a sad sign of the times that a group of "faith leaders" in Iowa signed a document declaring their support for same-sex "marriage."
The Evangelical Left's Anti-Israel Slant
(click on 'Hear Report' on right side of page)
American Family News Network: OneNewsNow.com (February 1, 2010)
The head of a Protestant renewal organization is calling out a prominent member of the so-called "evangelical left" for leading a delegation on an anti-Israel pilgrimage.
Discourse #11: Mark Tooley (Read summary and listen here)
'Discourse,' a podcast on BreakPoint (January 26, 2010)
Say the name Mark Tooley in United Methodist circles around the country and you’ll either get a broad smile (from conservative members) or a look of consternation (from liberal bishops). Tooley has been one of the leaders among the United Methodist laity for several years now, trying to bring this mainline denomination back to the roots established by John Wesley: scriptural holiness, orthodox Christian doctrine, and a social outreach informed by these spiritual truths.
The Manhattan Declaration: Why did you sign?
Peter and Helen Evans (January 2010)
Peter and Helen Evans' collection of video clips that contain words of inspiration, advice and suggestions regarding signing the Declaration, talking to others about the crucial issues it addresses and suggestions on how to begin your own discussion or study groups. Faith McDonnell, Mark Tooley and Alan Wisdom were each interviewed for this project. View their responses below. Click the link above to view additional interviews with those who have signed the Declaration.
Robert P. George, Professor of Jurisprudence at Princeton University, co-author of Manhattan Declaration, and a Board Member of the Institute on Religion & Democracy
“Too few Christians understand how to defend what we believe. It’s great to believe, but we need to defend it, because it is under attack in the culture.”
Faith McDonnell, Director of Religious Liberty Programs at the Institute on Religion & Democracy
“The persecution of Christians is really the worst religious persecution that’s going on in the world today.”
Jim Tonkowich, Scholar, Institute on Religion and Democracy
“The Manhattan Declaration helps us address the critical question of the 21st Century, “What does it mean to be human? What does it mean to be one of us?”
Mark Tooley, President, Institute on Religion and Democracy
“I hope it has a wide and on-going influence on America, and especially on America’s churches. . . who should remain faithful to their traditional doctrines and beliefs.”
Alan Wisdom, Vice President, Intitute on Religion & Democracy
“I signed it because it’s counter-cultural. Because it’s willing to take a stand against the powerful currents in our culture that are taking us away from the respect for human life.”
Year in Review - Church 2009
(click on 'Hear Report' on right side of page)
American Family News Network: OneNewsNow.com (December 31, 2009)
Denominational issues were front and center in 2009 as some religious bodies welcomed new leaders and others grew more open to the homosexual agenda.
Survey shows 'pew-versus-pulpit divide'
(click on 'Hear Report' on right side of page)
American Family News Network: OneNewsNow.com (December 31, 2009)
A new poll shows disparity between religious leaders and those in the pews on the issue of illegal immigration.
Scripture v. opinion - which gets last word?
(click on 'Hear Report' on right side of page)
American Family News Network: OneNewsNow.com (September 25, 2009)
Presiding Bishop Mark Hanson said, in effect, that the Bible does not hold the last word on the issue of homosexuality. Alan Wisdom of The Institute on Religion and Democracy tells OneNewsNow that his proclamation is highly dismaying.
Evangelical Group Leans Left
(click on 'Hear Report' on right side of page)
American Family News Network: OneNewsNow.com (September 25, 2009)
A Protestant renewal organization is blasting the National Association of Evangelicals for its liberal stance on illegal immigration.
Holding out hope for Methodism
(click on 'Hear Report' on right side of page)
American Family News Network: OneNewsNow.com (September 25, 2009)
Conservative members of the United Methodist Church, says Mark Tooley, must be vigilant when it comes to defending biblical standards in the denomination.
Religious Left pays homage to 'altar of Big Gov't'
(click on 'Hear Report' on right side of page)
American Family News Network: OneNewsNow.com (August 15, 2009)
Mark Tooley points out that many times the best-intentioned government programs create more problems and cost much more than anticipated.
Homosexual backlash against Anglican leader expected
(click on 'Hear Report' on right side of page)
American Family News Network: OneNewsNow.com (July 30, 2009)
Mark Tooley speaks on Archbishop of Rochester Michael Nazir-Ali's affirmation of marriage between one man and one woman and the reactions it has generated.
Commentary on the TEC General Convention (Listen to Jeff Walton approx. 20 minutes into the program)
Moody Radio, Prime Time America (July 21, 2009)
Anglican Action program director, Jeff Walton, joins Kendall S. Harmon in offering insight into the events of the most recent Episcopal General Convention. Issues related to human sexuality, universalism and the Anglican communion are addressed. Interview conducted by Phil Fleischman.
Mainline Protestants and Same-Sex Marriage (Read summary and listen here)
PBS Religion & Ethics Newsweekly (July 10, 2009)
Mark Tooley encourages faithfulness to timeless teachings that have been presented to the church through its Scripture and through its traditions as he discusses the controversial topic of same-sex marriage within mainline denominations.
Liberal leadership + conservative base = denominational fireworks
(click on 'Hear Report' on right side of page)
American Family News Network: OneNewsNow.com (June 26, 2009)
Mark Tooley speaks regarding a recent decision to allow a lesbian couple to testify during the annual meeting of Mississippi United Methodists that has caused widespread controversy.
Evangelical Left Endorses Hate Crimes Legislation (Read summary and listen here)
VCY America: Crosstalk (May 18, 2009)
Members of the evangelical "left" have been lobbying Washington on behalf of legislation that would add sexual orientation and gender identity to pending federal hate crimes legislation. Leading the charge recently was liberal evangelist Tony Campolo who joined a Capitol Hill rally organized by the gay advocacy group known as the Human Rights Campaign.
The Failed Attempt to Normalize Homosexuality in the Presbyterian Church USA
Issues, Etc. (April 28, 2009)
IRD Expert Alan Wisdom speaks to the recent attempt to normalize homosexuality within the Presbyterian Church USA. (Interview begins at approx. 01:00)
IRD names Tooley as new president (click on 'Hear Report' on right side of page)
American Family News Network: OneNewsNow.com (April 04, 2009)
Mark Tooley has been named the new president of the Institute on Religion & Democracy (IRD). Tooley, who has been with the IRD since 1994, takes over for retiring IRD president Jim Tonkowich.
Condom distribution at church - UCC likes the idea (click on 'Hear Report' on right side of page)
American Family News Network: OneNewsNow.com (March 31, 2009)
Alan Wisdom warns of the dangerous implications of the UCC's stance on condom distribution: "It sends a message to youth particularly, the kids who meet in their Sunday schools, that the church really has no expectation of them in terms of sexuality, that it expects them to enter into multiple sexual relationships in the same way the world does, and that its only concern is they not pick up diseases."
Commentary on UMC Revisionist Hymnal (Read transcript and listen here)
Moody Radio, Prime Time America (March 30, 2009)
Mark Tooley comments at length on the new Hymnal revision committee that will propose a new hymnal for the 2012 General Conference. Tooley raises concerns over the committee inserting radical feminist, homosexual and other progressive content.