Richard Cizik: A Thinking Evangelical

Yes, I realize that fundamentalist evangelical Christians and serious thought are usually an oxymoron. To be a far right fundamentalist, the first requirement typically is to surrender independent thought and embrace the mental equivalent of a lobotomy. Only the allegedly "inerrant" Bible needs be to consulted and then among this crowd one can shut down their brain and drift into a mental suspended animation. Or at least that is the message from most of the Christianist "mega Church" pastors - that and put plenty of money in the collection plate. For a while, Richard Cizik (at right) seemed to fit that model and as a Washington lobbyist for the National Association of Evangelicals for nearly 30 years, he should have known that intelligent thought was something utterly forbidden by his evangelical brethren. But, he made the mistake of stating his true thoughts in an interview with NPR that led to his expulsion. His heresy? He said that he voted for Barack Obama in the Virginia primary and that he now supported civil unions for same sex couples. As Newsweek Magazine reports, after his exile, Cizik is making a comeback and challenging evangelicals who worship ignorance and fear having to make an independent decision for themselves. Here are some story highlights:
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After a year of keeping a low profile, Cizik is "making a comeback," as he puts it. This week he announces the formation of the New Evangelical Partnership for the Common Good, a group devoted to developing Christian responses to global and political issues such as environmentalism, nuclear disarmament, human rights, and dialogue with the Muslim world. Cizik's partners in this effort are David Gushee, a professor of Christian ethics at Mercer University who has written extensively on torture, and Steven D. Martin, a pastor and filmmaker. For years, Cizik has been saying that the evangelical right needs to reframe its politics, to walk away from divisive name calling and find common ground with opponents, even on hot-button issues like abortion and gay marriage.
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The partnership gives Cizik a platform from which to speak openly. In his old job, "I wasn't allowed to say what I was thinking if it didn't support every jot and tittle of NAE policy," he says. Now, "I don't have to worry about the kinds of accountability that I had before."
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Cizik says he represents a tradition of evangelicalism going back to the beginning of the 20th century—to Francis Schaeffer and Carl Henry, evangelicals who were strictly orthodox, but advocated a broad engagement with the world. "I'm not some upstart who's trying to conjure up a new vision," he says. "This goes back a long way."
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He reiterates his support for civil unions this way: "Is it possible to deny due process and equal protection to those people whose personal lifestyle I disagree with?" And then, our meeting over, he goes off to see his new friends at the Open Society Institute, the group funded by George Soros—who is, as everybody knows, a billionaire and a liberal.

Wither Goes the Future of Evangelicals?

Richard Cizik was forced from a leadership position at the National Association of Evangelicals last week largely because his views on maintaining a never ending anti-gay jihad are shifting and he seems to recognize that the evangelical Christianity of James Dobson, Tony Perkins and other professional homo-haters is becoming increasingly toxic with moderate and independent voters not to mention the youngest generation of Americans who increasingly see Christianity in a negative light. Cizik's sin of actually having an expansive view of the problems facing the world was a mortal sin for those who in my view come across as closet case homophobes. Seriously, no one gets as hysterical about homosexuality as Dobson, Wildon, Perkins, et al unless they have some pretty serious personal emotional issues going own. In my experience, heterosexuals who are comfortable with their own sexuality are no frightened by LGBT people.

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I believe that the gay-hating evangelicals will lead to the decline of Christianity with future generations if their hate filled mantra is not eliminated and a more tolerant and embracing version of Christianity adopted. In keeping with this view are comments that Jim Wallis at Sojourner made on Cizik's forced reignation. Here are highlights from his remarks:

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Rich Cizik has been a pioneer in the "new evangelical" movement and a real hero, especially to the next generation of young believers. Rich has helped lead the way to putting "creation care" and climate change on the mainstream agenda of the evangelical movement. His pilgrimage to a deep passion for the planet that God made for us has been, in his own language, a "conversion" and an "epiphany." Because of that, he has become a powerful spokesperson for many in the Christian world who are having that same conversion.

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Rich Cizik still supports the Christian tradition of marriage between a man and a woman, which he reiterated after the interview, and that his strong pro-life commitments certainly included abortion, even though in the interview he said that pro-life commitments should include more than just abortion. He pointed out in the interview that younger evangelicals don't have all the same views on gay and lesbian and rights as their parents do, that more of them have friendships with gay people, and are more sympathetic to their equal protection under the law and issues like civil unions. That Cizik admitted that he identified with those shifts created the firestorm.

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All of this is very sad for many reasons. . . . . Already, leaders from many faith traditions, including many national evangelical leaders, have expressed great dismay at the loss of Rich Cizik in such a key role. And the Religious Right is already using Cizik's resignation to attempt to roll back the wider social justice and environmental agenda of the NAE.

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I encourage the NAE's leadership to stay on the path they have chosen and resist the efforts of those who would again seek to narrow the evangelical agenda in unbiblical ways and make it again subservient to a conservative political agenda.

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As for Rich Cizik, he will continue to be a leader in the new faith coalition that is emerging now, and that will replace the Religious Right, without becoming a religious left. Pioneer's sometimes get into trouble and even pay a price for their explorations into new territories. But in the new moral center that is now visible, Rich's prophetic voice and leadership will continue to be heard and felt.

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I hope Wallis is correct in his hopes. The Christian Right is neither right nor Christian and have turned the Gospel message into a message of hate. The sooner Dobson, Perkins and others of that ilk are banished to the political and religious wilderness, the better for all people of good will.

Evangelical Trash Talk

UPDATED: In the wake of the firestorm over his admission that his views on gay unions are shifting, Richard Cizik has resigned as president for governmental affairs for the National Association of Evangelicals. The lesson is that the homo-haters will not tolerate anyone who is willing to listen to science and reasoned discussion or who might view LGBT Americans as fully human. Here are some highlights from the Washington Post:

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A prominent evangelical lobbyist resigned yesterday over his remarks in a National Public Radio interview, in which he said he supports permitting same-sex civil unions. The Rev. Richard Cizik, vice president for governmental affairs for the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE), later apologized for the remark, said the Rev. Leith Anderson, president of the 30 million-member organization. But, Anderson said, "he lost the leadership's confidence as spokesman, and that's hard to regain."

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Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, said Cizik's beliefs had diverged too far from those of the NAE membership. "There's been some concern from the constituents that he was at least some distance from where the constituency was, but this is a whole different order of magnitude for his constituency on the gay-marriage issues -- it's a mega-issue," he said.

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Richard Cizik (at left) of the National Association of Evangelicals is prompting more consternation and trash talk among the professional homo-hater set in the Christian Right. These folks are obsessed with gay sex and seem to spend nearly every waking hour thinking of ways to denigrate LGBT citizens and in the process scare as many sheeple as possible into stroking them checks or sending in their online contributions. Rather than thinking of ways to feed the hungry, cloth the poor or provide housing for the homeless, these rabid Christianists worry almost exclusively about "The Gays." Enter Richard Cizik who believes that there just might be other issues that should command the attention of evangelical Christians. Here's Right Wing Watch's take on the latest tempest among the homo-haters:

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It is no secret that Religious Right leaders have had it out for Richard Cizik of the National Association of Evangelicals for some time now, starting back in 2007 when they tried to get him fired for branching out into the global warming debate because they feared it was undermining the focus on their traditional anti-choice, anti-gay agenda.

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[N]ow he has even fewer friends among the old-guard right-wing leaders thanks to this recent interview with Terry Gross on NPR’s “Fresh Air” where he all but admitted that he voted for Barack Obama, said that Dick Armey had good reasons for calling people like James Dobson bullies and thugs, predicted that climate change is going to become an issue on which evangelicals become increasingly active, pledged to work with the Obama administration to find ways to reduce unwanted pregnancies in this country, and admitted that his opposition to marriage equality is “shifting.”

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Well, this last sin has sent the most rabid of the homo-haters into absolute conniptions and the sputtering, spittle flying and gnashing of teeth is nearly off the charts. Of course the unspoken reason for the violent reactions is that fighting the make believe "gay agenda" is a huge cash cow for the Christianist organizations and if gays ever become accepted as main stream, many of the professional gay haters will be unemployed. Jeremy Hooper at Good As You has a great run down of the hyperventilating:

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Wendy Wright, President of Concerned Women for America: “Mr. Cizik claimed that his views are five years ahead of his constituency, but these views are not anywhere close to Biblical orthodoxy, traditional Christian theology nor the bulk of Evangelicals who ground their faith in the Bible. Perhaps this is why he espouses them in forums to which most of his supposed 'constituency' do not listen.”

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Janice Shaw Crouse, Director and Senior Fellow of Concerned Women for America’s Beverly LaHaye Institute: “The NAE consists of 45,000 churches, 50 denominations and 30 million constituents. I cannot believe that they are happy to have a spokesperson, who supposedly represents them, expressing views that are contrary to Biblical authority and contradict theological orthodoxy. I think, perhaps, my dear friend Rich has been inside the Beltway for too long and has swallowed too much of the NPR and Vogue Magazine Kool-Aid.”

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AFA: "Many have tried for years to get the NAE to drop Rev. Cizik, but the NAE has refused to do so. Churches have a right to know how the money they give to NAE is used."

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Ingrid Schlueter, co-host of the nationally syndicated Crosstalk Radio Talk Show: "Richard Cizik seems more concerned about impressing NPR's liberal audience with his broad-mindedness than being faithful to the Lord Jesus Christ,” ... “As an adoptive parent of two children given life by their birth mothers, I find it abhorrent that Mr. Cizik would sanction Christian support for the most radically pro-abortion President in the history of the nation.”

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Family Research Council: "This revelation should not come as a surprise. This is the risk of walking through the green door of environmentalism and global warming - you risk being blinded by the green light and losing your sense of direction. How else can you explain enthusiastic support for what will probably be the nation's most pro-abortion, anti-family president in our nation's 232 year history?

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Cizik's real sin? That he has stopped drinking the Kool-Aid and is actually focusing on a truer version of the Christian message. The hater set is having none of it since hate and intolerance are their only Gods.