The universal church, but especially the churches in America, needs to have a responsible public witness that doesn’t exchange the Gospel for a political agenda but does relate the Gospel to the wider culture and political reality. The institutional church should not be routinely endorsing or opposing legislation, but should be giving lay people the tools to apply their faith intelligently to the reality in which they live.

Mark Tooley spent eight years as a CIA analyst before joining the Institute on Religion and Democracy, where he is now president. A native Arlingtonian, he has spent much of his life trying to renew the United Methodist Church and point it toward historic Christian beliefs.

What does your organization do?

The IRD focuses on reforming the political witness of American churches, and often we are described as a watchdog of the religious Left. Much of our history has involved watching, critiquing and countering the old-line denominations, like the United Methodists, Presbyterians, Episcopalians, the Lutherans and ecumenical groups like the National Council of Churches, which was still influential and prestigious when IRD began back in 1981 and which were still accurately called “mainline.”

But the “mainline” has become old-line or sideline, so increasingly the IRD has in recent years focused more and more on the wider evangelical world, where unfortunately some of the same issues that took the mainline to the sideline are now afflicting many evangelicals. So we’d like to counter that before it spreads, because at the core of IRD’s mission is our belief that America’s democracy and laws and freedom are premised on a vigorous religious life.

What’s your take on the National Cathedral’s announcement last week that it will begin hosting same-sex weddings?

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