Mark Tooley

Who is Mark Tooley?

Mark Tooley became president in 2009 of the Washington-D.C. based Institute on Religion and Democracy, a conservative religious thinktank noted for its critique of liberal religious groups.

He has worked for IRD since 1994, prior to which he worked for the CIA. His articles appear regularly in The American Spectator, The Weekly Standard, Frontpagemag.com, Touchstone and elsewhere.

He is the author of "Taking Back the United Methodist Church." Tooley was featured in the October 10, 2009 issue of World magazine.

In November 2009, Tooley signed an ecumenical statement known as the Manhattan Declaration calling on Evangelicals, Catholics and Orthodox not to comply with rules and laws permitting abortion, same-sex marriage and other matters that go against their religious consciences.

Tooley authored "Methodism & Politics in the 20th Century: From William McKinley to 9-11" in 2011, the first comprehensive overview of the political witness of what was once America's largest Protestant denomination.