U.S. mainline Protestantism and the Institute for Religion and Democracy


	U.S. mainline Protestantism and the Institute for Religion and Democracy

enbar

8-3-2008 11:12 PM

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tags:

religion, america, protestantism, evangelicalism, church, conservatives, contemporary, criticism, politics

enbar says:

Frederick Clarkson, in a 2006 article, outlines the activities of the Institute for Religion and Democracy since the eighties. Mainly funded by right-wing think tanks, he says, it has attempted to foment schism and disrupt governance in the largest denominations in the National Council of Churches.

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<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/0ce0663a-4c43-4840-ae9b-4b7bde6b79af/8C2FE3E8-84DB-40FE-A29E-C9F642529415/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://www.publiceye.org/magazine/v20n1/clarkson_battle.html" href="http://www.publiceye.org/magazine/v20n1/clarkson_battle.html" style="font-size: 11px;">www.publiceye.org</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.publiceye.org/magazine/v20n1/clarkson_battle.html"><div align="center"><img src="http://content9.clipmarks.com/blog_cache/www.publiceye.org/img/AE5022F5-FDC7-419D-96DB-DC8126166AD7" alt="" /></div></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.publiceye.org/magazine/v20n1/clarkson_battle.html"><H2>The Battle for the Mainline Churches</H2></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.publiceye.org/magazine/v20n1/clarkson_battle.html"><P><B>By <A href="http://www.publiceye.org/magazine/v20n1/../../articles/articles.php?author=Frederick%20Clarkson">Frederick Clarkson</A></B><BR />The Public Eye Magazine - Spring 2006</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.publiceye.org/magazine/v20n1/clarkson_battle.html"><P>The Institute remains a well-funded
and influential hub for a national network
of conservative factions called the Association
for Church Renewal. The member
organizations, called “renewal” groups,
variously seek to neutralize church tendencies
of which they don’t approve; drive
out staff they don’t like; and seek to take
over the churches, but failing that—taking
as many churches and assets out as possible.
The network’s spokespersons are
treated as credible voices of conservative dissent
by mainstream media.</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.publiceye.org/magazine/v20n1/clarkson_battle.html">IRD’s program is currently focused on
the NCC’s three largest denominations,
together comprising 14 million members:
the United Methodist Church, The
Episcopal Church and the Presbyterian
Church in the United States of America
(PCUSA). They also find the time to target
the NCC, and the World Council of
Churches.</blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/8C2FE3E8-84DB-40FE-A29E-C9F642529415/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content6.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>