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The Institute on Religion and Democracy is a conservative religio-political Watchdog group in the United States. The IRD describes itself as "an ecumenical alliance of U.S. Christians working to reform their churches’ social witness, in accord with biblical and historic Christian teachings, thereby contributing to the renewal of democratic society at home and abroad." {Link without Title}

The IRD has been accused of having ties to Neoconservative politicians in the Republican Party, and like other GOP-linked organizations the IRD is funded by conservative philanthropist Richard Mellon Scaife . {Link without Title}

The IRD's alleged policy goals include increasing military spending, promoting an interventionist foreign policy, opposing environmental protection efforts, eliminating domestic social welfare programs, and opposing the extension of the US civil rights movement toward homosexuals. (Critics and some former members of the group describe it as nationalistic, homophobic, sexist and racist.)


BACKGROUND


Since 1981 the IRD has worked toward two objectives:

  • Influence US domestic and foreign policy with a conservative Christian viewpoint.


  • Reform the Mainline American Protestant denominations. The IRD views the mainline denominations as being endangered due to their clergy and leadership having surrendered to secular and leftist political influences.



LEADERSHIP, 2005


IRD Officers
  • Dr. J. Budziszewski - Chairman

  • Dr. Dean Curry - Vice-Chairman

  • Mr. John Boone - Secretary

  • Mrs. Mary Ellen Bork - Treasurer

  • Mr. Alan Wisdom - Vice-President


Board of Directors

  • Mrs. Roberta Green Ahmanson, Chairman, Pattee Enterprises

  • Mr. Fred Barnes, Editor, '' The Weekly Standard ''

  • Mr. John Boone, C.L.U. Mass Mutual

  • Mrs. Mary Ellen Bork, Writer & Speaker

  • Dr. J. Budziszewski, Professor, University Of Texas At Austin

  • Dr. Dean Curry, Professor, Messiah College

  • Dr. Ira Gallaway, United Methodist clergyman

  • Dr. Robert George, Professor, Princeton University

  • The Rev. Richard J. Neuhaus, The Institute on Religion and Public Life

  • Mr. Michael Novak, George Frederick Jewett Scholar, American Enterprise Institute

  • Dr. Thomas C. Oden, Professor of Theology and Ethics (emeritus), Drew University

  • Dr. Edmund Robb III, United Methodist clergyman

  • Mrs. Terry Schlossberg, Executive Director, Presbyterians Pro-Life

  • The Rev. Graham Smith, Episcopal clergyman

  • Mr. David Stanley, Retired attorney

  • Mrs. Helen Rhea Stumbo, Publisher, Bristol House Ltd.

  • Mr. George Weigel, Senior Fellow, Ethics and Public Policy Center

  • Mrs. Diane L. Knippers, President, The Institute on Religion and Democracy (Knippers died in 2005).


Board of Advisers

  • Dr. Hadley Arkes, Professor of Political Science, Amherst College

  • Dr. Q. Whitfield Ayers, President, Ayers, McHenry and Associates

  • Dr. Kim Carney, Professor Emeritus of economics, University of Texas

  • Dr. Hillel G. Fradkin, Senior Fellow, Hudson Institute

  • The Rev. Dr. Timothy George, Dean, Beeson Divinity School

  • Professor Mary Ann Glendon, Professor of Law, Harvard Law School

  • Dr. P. J. Hill, Professor of Business and Economics, Wheaton College

  • Dr. Paul Hinlicky, Jordan-Trexler Professor of Religion, Roanoke College

  • Dr. Francis R. Hittinger, Warren Chair of Catholic Studies, University of Tulsa

  • Mr. David Jessup, Sylvan Dale Guest Ranch, Colorado

  • Ms. Katherine Kersten, Senior Fellow for Cultural Studies, Center of the American Experiment

  • Dr. Dennis F. Kinlaw, founder, Francis Asbury Society, and former president, Asbury College

  • Mr. James Kushiner, Executive Director, Touchstone Magazine

  • Rev. C. J. McCloskey III, Fellow, Faith and Reason Institute

  • Ms. Frederica Mathewes-Green, columnist for Beliefnet.com and National Review Online

  • Mr. Michael Medved, syndicated talk-show host

  • Mr. James Nuechterlein, Senior Fellow, Institute on Religion and Public Life

  • Professor David Novak, J. Richard and Dorothy Shiff Chair of Jewish Studies, University of Toronto

  • Dr. Allan Parrent, Interim Dean, the School of Theology, at Sewanee, the University of the South

  • The Rev. James Schall, Professor of Government, Georgetown University

  • Dr. Philip W. Turner, Dean Emeritus of Berkeley Divinity School, Yale University



FUNDING


Like many religious nonprofit organizations, IRD receives funding from a mixture of foundations and individual donations.

According to Group Watch (1998), "IRD reports that its income is derived from membership drives, literature sales, individual and church contributions, and foundation grants. The group's income for 1982 totaled $352,659. Of this, $200,000 came from Scaife Family Charitable Trusts/ Scaife Foundations and $81,000 from the Smith Richardson Foundation . (1,4,8) IRD also received a $44,000 grant from USIA in 1985. (4,10) In 1985, IRD received grants of $5,000 from the Adolph Coors Foundation , $64,000 from the John M. Olin Foundation , and $90,000 from the Smith Richardson Fdn. In 1986, it received grants of $75,000 from the John M. Olin Fdn, $45,000 from the Smith Richardson Fdn, and $100,000 from the Lynde And Harry Bradley Foundation ."


SEE ALSO



While IRD board members may have connections with some of the above groups, IRD does not work either directly or indirectly with any of them. On issues such as the War in Iraq, IRD has not taken an official stand either for or against.


EXTERNAL LINKS