At the same time the program gave momentum to a fledging Washington "think tank," The Institute on Religion and Democracy (IRD), nearly 90% funded by right-wing benefactors like Richard Mellon Scaife and the Smith-Richardson Foundation. The IRD was a primary source of the false and reckless claims made by the 60 Minutes segments.  

Founded in 1981 by several key leaders of the neoconservative movement including Roman Catholics Michael Novak and Father Richard John Neuhaus it has relentlessly used propaganda methods to carry out the radical political agenda of a handful of secular benefactors bent on neutralizing and overturning the social justice tradition of mainline Protestant churches as well as the NCC.  

Attacks by IRD on the NCC and its constituent churches are meant to discredit the legitimacy of their democratic bodies and support imposition of strict dogma and autocratic governance. This tactic is often on view when the conservative "renewal" factions in mainline denominations work with the IRD to foment internal dissent and generate conflict. In some cases, unaware theologically conservative Christians seeking spiritual renewal are used by the IRD and the "renewal" factions for hardball political power designs.

The question remains, why would secular political operatives care about funding a multi-million dollar attack on mainline churches and the NCC?  Think about this: NCC church members' influence is disproportionate to their numbers and include remarkably high numbers of leaders in politics, business, and culture.  The prevailing ethos of American culture has been shaped by the leadership and membership of theses churches.  Moreover, these churches are some of the largest land owners in the U.S., with hundreds of billions of dollars collectively in assets.  A hostile takeover of these churches would represent a massive shift in American culture, power and wealth for a relatively small investment.  If this sounds far-fetched, one need only consider how right-wing groups during recent decades have taken over and now wholly control the Southern Baptist Convention.  

One of the most troubling aspects of the IRD is that, while powerful figures in the right-wing of the Roman Catholic Church have been among its leaders from its inception, there is no program, staff or budget for changing the Catholic Church. There are only programs, staff and budget for changing Protestant churches. At the same time, 6 of the 17 current members of the board of directors, a full (35 percent), are prominent conservative Catholics. They include founders Father Richard John Neuhaus of the American Enterprise Institute and Michael Novak of The Institute on Religion and Public Life, along with Professor Robert P. George of Princeton University, George Weigel of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, Mary Ellen Bork (wife of Judge Robert Bork) and the chair of the board, Professor J. Budziszewski of the University of Texas at Austin.

These prominent Catholics who direct the IRD's board have conferred their prestige and considerable influence on an organization that has consistently labored to generate suspicion and hostility about Christian leaders who are not in their communion. This is not acceptable among responsible people of faith. Don Hewitt at 60 minutes said he was sorry. We are still waiting for the leaders at IRD to say they are sorry.

Andrew J. Weaver, M.Th., Ph.D., is a United Methodist pastor and a clinical psychologist living in New York City. He is Associate Publisher of Zion's Herald an independent religious journal published by the Boston Wesleyan Association.  He has researched and written on the right-wing attack on mainline churches and is a contributor to a new volume, Hardball on Holy Ground, The Religious Right vs .The Mainline for the Soul of the Church.

Fred W. Kandeler M.Div., D.D., is a retired United Methodist pastor affiliated with Travis Park UMC, San Antonio, Texas.  His thirty-six years of ordained ministry included serving ten years as founding pastor of Christ UMC in Plano, Texas and as later as District Superintendent. He is a contributor to a new volume, Hardball on Holy Ground, The Religious Right vs .The Mainline for the Soul of the Church.