A timely conversation amid America’s Thanksgiving: the pilgrims were ultra-Protestant separatists whose persecution in England foreshadowed the parliamentary Puritan revolt against King Charles I and the established church. @markdtooley.bsky.social interviews Oxford historian Jonathan Healey.
Assumptions of equal justice and social equality are so pervasive that many in the West just assume they are intrinsic, natural, and universal, writes @markdtooley.bsky.social. They fall upon all like an April rainstorm.
There’s nothing new about the upsurge in antisemitism among Christians. It’s a very old evil, parcel to fallen humanity’s proclivity to fault others for the world’s ailments, when all of us as sinners are contributors, writes @markdtooley.bsky.social.
"Antisemitism, in subtle and blatant forms, likely will grow in American Christianity. Discerning American Christians must prepare to counter it. The argument against it is not complex and comes directly from our Savior: Love thy neighbor as thyself, without exceptions."
@markdtooley.bsky.social
The charge that Christian Zionism is "heresy" evinces that pro-Israel Christians need to upgrade their talking points and their theology, writes @markdtooley.bsky.social.
LISTEN: IRD's @markdtooley.bsky.social joins Andy Miller on the More to the Story podcast to discuss how Christians should engage the public square—especially in light of rising antisemitism on both sides of the political spectrum.
There’s nothing new about the upsurge in antisemitism among Christians and in society. It’s a very old evil. Affirming the dignity of all, intrinsic to Christianity, is not natural. It must be continuously retaught and incarnated.
@markdtooley.bsky.social
The moral genius of Anglo Protestants who crafted The Declaration was aspiration of human equality for all, not just for people like themselves, writes @markdtooley.bsky.social. “Heritage Americans” prioritize ancestry over Declaration’s universality.
Is the Anglican Church in North America a "woke" church? As the bishop of the endorsing body for chaplains unilaterally cut ties with the North American church last week, some warn that it is deflection from a straightforward misconduct investigation.
Would historic Reformed thought permit the Presbyterian Church in America to be an established church?
American congregations of the future may be younger and more male than at any point in recent history, writes Lauren Knights.
Third generation Methodist pastor Andrew Forrest of Asbury Church in Tulsa joins IRD's @markdtooley.bsky.social to discuss his new book Love Goes First: Reaching Others in an Age of Anxiety and Division.
This week IRD welcomes College of William and Mary graduate and intern Rafa Albolote. Rafa discovered IRD through his interest in religious liberty and serves with the Fourth Fellows, a young adult leadership program at Fourth Presbyterian Church in Bethesda. Welcome, Rafa!
This week IRD welcomes University of Virginia graduate Miranda Mobley, whose love for literature, theology, and international relations drew her to work at IRD. She serves at The Falls Church Anglican in a 9-month spiritual formation and leadership program. Welcome, Miranda!
Podcast with Methodist theologian Kenneth Collins of Asbury Seminary on his new book "Generous Divine Love: The Grace & Power of Methodist Theology."
Reinhold Niebuhr: “The sad experiences of Christian history show how human pride & spiritual arrogance rise to new heights precisely at the point where the claims of sanctity are made without due qualification.”
Some church officials characterize Charlie Kirk’s death as a blow to democracy and the foundation of America. IRD's Miranda Mobley surveys Baptist, Anglican, Catholic, Lutheran and Pentecostal responses.
If worship becomes a concert, we may gain an audience but lose the altar, writes IRD's Lauren Knights.
"Trump's attack on free speech and free elections are two sides of the same coin, and we can’t treat them as separable." — @andycraig.bsky.social in @theunpopulist.net
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My weekly email: Religious Left demise, Methodist righteousness, Mother of Jesus, John Calvin, Catholic statecraft, Wesleyan baptism, etc. mailchi.mp/theird/split...
juicyecumenism.com/2025/09/12/c... To Kill A Mockingbird, a 1960 popular novel by Harper Lee that became a popular 1962 film starring Gregory Peck, is not “woke” or leftwing or political. It’s America’s premier Methodist novel.
juicyecumenism.com/2025/09/12/c... To Kill A Mockingbird, a 1960 popular novel by Harper Lee that became a popular 1962 film starring Gregory Peck, is not “woke” or leftwing or political. It’s America’s premier Methodist novel.
American Orthodox churches have been strained by the pull between filial loyalty to their coreligionists in Russia and respect for the liberal democratic values that drive American support for Ukraine.
When IRD founded the John Wesley Institute, we saw need for deeper formation in the broad Wesleyan family, to dive deeper into the Scriptures, to provide training in the historic Christian witness, the “faith once delivered to the saints,” and to promote the Christ-like life, scriptural holiness.
“Woke pontiff”? “The most based Pope ever"? The faithful have become conditioned to consume the papacy as spectacle. Yet Leo’s pontificate may offer the chance to recover a quieter, older form of devotion.
The claim that infant baptism and infant dedication are of equal value is to move well beyond what Wesley taught, and arguably to offer an ahistorical Wesleyanism that bears little resemblance to the namesake, writes Ryan Danker.
Where did the Religious Left go? Few under a certain age can even identify it. Some think it's non-MAGA evangelicals.
@markdtooley.bsky.social recalls the late great Religious Left.
