"This resolution bears all the hallmarks of someone trying to shift blame for the denomination's decline onto an outside boogeyman." -- Jeff Walton, IRD Anglican Spokesman

Contact: Eric Lemasters, Institute on Religion and Democracy, 202-682-4131, 202-413-5639 cell, elemasters@TheIRD.org

WASHINGTON, Nov. 16 /Christian Newswire/ -- The Institute on Religion and Democracy (IRD) is a danger to religious freedom, according to a resolution recently adopted by the Episcopal Diocese of New York. The resolution alleges that IRD has "sought to punish the Episcopal, Presbyterian, and United Methodist denominations for leadership choices with which it disagrees through seizure of church property and other assets."

The resolution calls upon the Episcopal Church's General Convention to authorize an "investigation" of IRD, in collaboration with the United Methodist Church and the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). The next General Convention is scheduled for July 2012.

Recently released figures provided by the Episcopal Church show that the diocese of New York experienced a 4.1 percent drop in attendance in 2009. In addition to a steady drop in both giving and membership, the diocese has lost over 4,000 attendees in the past decade.

IRD Anglican Spokesman Jeff Walton commented:

"The Diocese of New York has lost attendance at double the rate of the broader Episcopal Church. This resolution bears all the hallmarks of someone trying to shift blame for the denomination's decline onto an outside boogeyman.

"With the diocese steadily hemorrhaging members and funds, it's apparently easier for it to blame the IRD than to own up to the church-damaging consequences of choosing revisionist theology and liberal politics above the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

"The IRD, with members spread across many denominations, takes no position on whether people should join or leave any particular denomination. We have members who have chosen to remain in the Episcopal Church and members who have chosen to depart. We have no involvement in Episcopal Church litigation. We lament the manner in which lawsuits against parishes and dioceses have drained resources that could have gone to the mission of the church."