Mark Tooley

16 posts
Prior to joining The Institute on Religion & Democracy  in 1994, Mark Tooley worked eight years for the Central Intelligence Agency as an analyst. He is a graduate of Georgetown University and is a native of Arlington, Virginia. A lifelong United Methodist, he has been active in United Methodist renewal since 1988, when he wrote a study about denominational funding of pro-Marxist groups for his local congregation. He currently attends Washington Street United Methodist Church in Alexandria, Virginia. Mark Tooley became president of the Institute on Religion and Democracy (IRD) in 2009. He joined IRD in 1994 to found its United Methodist committee (UMAction). He is the author of Taking Back The United Methodist Church, published in 2008, and Methodism and Politics in the 20th Century, published in 2011.

Thanksgiving “models harmony possible by divine grace and good will”

Mark Tooley: Our prayers this Thanksgiving must remember those Christians under threat and restriction by tyrannical regimes and violent ideologies.

Thomas C. Oden (1931-2016), Champion of Christian Orthodoxy

Theologian Thomas C. Oden, one of Methodism’s and American Christianity’s most esteemed theologians, passed away at his home in Oklahoma Wednesday night.

United Methodists Take First Steps in a New, Positive Direction

Mark Tooley: Evangelical and orthodox United Methodists are not merely holding the line, but steering their global denomination in a more conservative direction.

Christ at the Checkpoint Undermines Evangelical Support for Israel

Christ at the Checkpoint ignores the nasty reality of the Middle East, where democracy, human rights and religious liberty at largely confined to Israel.

New Journal Examining Foreign Policy From a Christian Perspective Has Launched

The Institute on Religion & Democracy plans to fill a void by providing conservative Protestant and Evangelical perspectives on international issues.

An Evangelical Shift on Capital Punishment?

Will NAE adopt the habit of mainline Protestants to jettison traditional teachings by votes among select elites in vain pursuit of wider social approval?

Consider the Unintended Consequences in Iran Nuclear Deal

Mark Tooley: Christians must think through unintended consequences of the Iran Deal and advocate policies that seek approximate justice and security.

Campolo’s Announcement Marks Evangelical Left Shift to Irrelevance

Mark Tooley: Liberal Evangelicals such as Tony Campolo becoming liberal Protestants will, like the rest of liberal Protestantism, stagnate and decline.

Defend Christian Businesses Against Lynch Mobs of Secular Groupthink

Future lynch mobs will target more Christian owned businesses for their refusal to defy secular group think. The Church will need to rally to their defense.

The Supreme Season for Gratitude for God’s Blessings

There is a common spirit in America today of despair and ingratitude. For all of our problems, there is much for which all Americans can be very grateful.

A Christian Response to Executive Amnesty?

With President Obama’s pending executive order on immigration reform, how can Christians advocate for an effective national consensus on immigration policy?

Federal Discrimination Against Religion?

Religious groups will not receive an exemption from an executive order signed…

Do Harvard Black Satanic Mass Plans Reveal Multiculturalism Run Amuck?

Plans for a Satanic black mass Monday evening in Memorial Hall at…

A Religious Left Revival?

A new report from a center-left think tank is questioning the appeal…

Christ’s Resurrection Power Yet Prevails

Early in the last century much of then-official Mainline Protestantism succumbed to…

Does God Demand a $10.10 Minimum Wage?

As the U.S. Senate considers legislation to raise the minimum wage, Religious…