Spring Break
The other institute interested in SMU
Issue date: 4/27/07 Section: Opinion
IRD put money behind more than pamphlets, providing encouragement to mercenary units operating across Honduras' southern border. IRD proved to be Elliot Abrams' answered prayer: a U.S.-sanctioned, religious front, not-for-profit PR conduit for President Reagan's off-book and unconstitutional "black" war effort in Central America. Perhaps IRD never asked "what might Jesus do?"
IRD then turned its energies to sowing division in mainline churches in the U.S. Apparently these days IRD has SMU on its radar screen. IRD commits a hefty $400,000 annually to deconstructing my denomination, the United Methodist Church. They call this effort is "reform," a euphemism for what moral and ethical Christians consider institutional vandalism. SMU's historic commitment to academic freedom, intellectual honesty, scientific inquiry, and liberal education makes us an attractive and potentially vulnerable target.
Religion and politics have always shared close sleeping quarters, but since that '80s era black-war debacle erupted into "Iran-Contra-Gate" IRD has reveled in this conjugation. They've become true denominational bandits. With ample secular cash to seed tiny pockets of disgruntled or frustrated Christians scattered throughout mainline American Protestant denominations, they sow dissention, distrust, and rancor loudly. Distinguished University Professor at the University of Chicago, Martin E. Marty notes that IRD "has spent millions of dollars over 20 years attacking mainline denominations…by spreading misleading information and incendiary allegations…."
IRD's principal dispute with mainline American Christianity seems to be the churches' persistent commitment to biblically prophetic social ethics and Jesus' concern for all persons: perspectives IRD cannot abide. Notably, a significant number of U.S. senators and representatives identify with progressive mainline denominations. Politics, not theology as IRD would publicly claim, drives IRD's efforts. Their stated goals are laced with convenient justifications about rescuing church folk from wrong-thinking church leaders. These days IRD attacks United Methodist, Presbyterian USA, and Episcopalian clergy, bishops and agency staff, as well as lay folk who get in their way, with crusading ferocity.
IRD then turned its energies to sowing division in mainline churches in the U.S. Apparently these days IRD has SMU on its radar screen. IRD commits a hefty $400,000 annually to deconstructing my denomination, the United Methodist Church. They call this effort is "reform," a euphemism for what moral and ethical Christians consider institutional vandalism. SMU's historic commitment to academic freedom, intellectual honesty, scientific inquiry, and liberal education makes us an attractive and potentially vulnerable target.
Religion and politics have always shared close sleeping quarters, but since that '80s era black-war debacle erupted into "Iran-Contra-Gate" IRD has reveled in this conjugation. They've become true denominational bandits. With ample secular cash to seed tiny pockets of disgruntled or frustrated Christians scattered throughout mainline American Protestant denominations, they sow dissention, distrust, and rancor loudly. Distinguished University Professor at the University of Chicago, Martin E. Marty notes that IRD "has spent millions of dollars over 20 years attacking mainline denominations…by spreading misleading information and incendiary allegations…."
IRD's principal dispute with mainline American Christianity seems to be the churches' persistent commitment to biblically prophetic social ethics and Jesus' concern for all persons: perspectives IRD cannot abide. Notably, a significant number of U.S. senators and representatives identify with progressive mainline denominations. Politics, not theology as IRD would publicly claim, drives IRD's efforts. Their stated goals are laced with convenient justifications about rescuing church folk from wrong-thinking church leaders. These days IRD attacks United Methodist, Presbyterian USA, and Episcopalian clergy, bishops and agency staff, as well as lay folk who get in their way, with crusading ferocity.
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