Less than two years after unceremoniously resigning as long-time Washington lobbyist for the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE), Richard Cizik returned to the radio program that prompted his fall. Recently a fellow in leftist billionaire George Soros’s Open Society Institute, Cizik was candid with his criticism of evangelicals and shed light on how his views have evolved.
Cizik also cited Soros as a sort of biblical Persian King “Cyrus,” who restored the exiled Hebrews to Zion, as Soros likewise rescued Cizik after his fall.
Cizik appeared on Terry Gross’s NPR program Fresh Air in December 2008. Gross then asked Cizik about same sex civil unions, which Cizik said he supported but did not yet want to redefine marriage itself, though admitting his views were evolving.
After the interview, the NAE was flooded with calls calling for Cizik’s ouster. Within days, Cizik resigned. NAE President Leith Andersen explained, “Although he has subsequently expressed regret, apologized, and affirmed our values, there is a loss of trust in his credibility as a spokesperson among leaders and constituencies.”
After NAE, Cizik was affiliated with Ted Turner’s United Nations Foundation. Then he became a fellow with Soros’ Open Society Institute (OSI). Overlapping with his Soros fellowship, Cizik helped found the New Evangelical Partnership for the Common Good. Late last month he returned to Fresh Air. Of course Terry Gross asked about his NAE resignation. “It became apparent within a few minutes that this was a done deal,” Cizik said. “In other words, the executive committee had already met without my having participated in the conversation and decided I needed to go. And so I relented. In other words, what could I do? I decided they were asking for my resignation, I was going to give it. And so I did.”
Gross asked Cizik how he survived financially after leaving the NAE. “These wonderful people at the Open Society Institute evaluated me along with a lot of other applicants and decided to endow me with a fellowship for the past year, so I haven’t been without means.”
Cizik reflected on his time with OSI: “And I accepted the fellowship and it’s been a wonderful year dialoguing with people who don’t share my views. And yet, I think we have so much in common. More in common than we have apart, than we have that divides us.” Gross asked if he was referring to Muslims with whom he has dialogued or to OSI, to which Cizik answered, “My friends at the Open Society Institute. We have much more in common than we have that divides us.”
Seemingly shocked, Gross commented that it was ironic that Soros, who she said has been “so demonized by the right” was the one who provided gainful employment. Acknowledging her point, Cizik said, “In the Old Testament there was an unbelieving, in other words non-Jew, king by the name of Cyrus who was responsible for the rebuilding of the temple. And so my friends across the pond in Great Britain, they once said to me, ‘Richard, Soros is your King Cyrus.’”
Cizik also explained why he had commented about same-sex issues in the 2008 interview: “It came out, came out of the depths of the heart the mouth speaks. That’s what the Bible says. So it just came out.” He defended his position: “I hadn’t planned on saying it but I had been thinking about it a long time. And that was because I was looking at constitutional arguments that are even now being weighed before the California Supreme Court and others. In other words, can we deny rights to others whose values we don’t especially share, or in fact may disagree with strongly? And yet, yes, I agree with what I said then. I happen to agree with it now.”
Of popular evangelical sentiment on gay “marriage” Cizik said, “Evangelicals around the country are looking at this in new light, in new ways, and evaluating it in light of the Constitution and in light of our Christian values. And that’s good. I maybe precipitated an argument I didn’t intended to precipitate.”
Later in the show, Gross pressed Cizik on his position. Noting the differential treatment of civil-unions and marriages, she asked, “Why not say that you support gay marriage?” Summarizing Gross’ comments, Cizik said, “So there’s the logic to the argument that says, well if you’re going to grant civil unions why can’t you grant gay marriage?” He then responded: “And I concede that argument. It’s a fair one. I’m just not there yet.” “Maybe someday?” Gross inquired. “Of course,” Cizik immediately responded, continuing, “I’m not of those who think that this if it happens is going to be the loss [or] the decline of Western civilization. That’s certainly not the case. Evangelicals have lived in a variety of circumstances around the world, and do today, in which we face really serious issues. There are real dangers out there. That’s the point of the new partnership that we’re talking about. There are real dangers out there: there’s ethnic conflicts, failed states, frankly what happens inside states is as important as what happens between them, there’s catastrophic terrorism that occurs, there’s massive abuse of human rights around the world, and [the] breakdown of global economic systems. And so, there are huge issues that face us on this planet. And I don’t believe that that’s [same-sex “marriage”] one of them.”
Gross also asked Cizik about his latest project, The New Evangelical Partnership for the Common Good, which he founded with liberal Baptist ethicist and Mercer University Professor David P. Gushee. Of the new group Cizik said, “We all believe that we are the future. That alienates some, irritates some. But frankly, we are the future of evangelicalism in America.” He went on to say that the Partnership “aims to be an alternative” to the Religious Right, a movement which he said “couldn’t allow diversity.” “The movement has always been susceptible to reactionary movements,” Cizik argued. “Evangelicalism today is known for what it’s against, not for what it’s for. And we’re trying to say, we’re for these things.”
Cizik’s creation of New Evangelical Partnership for the Common Good coincided with his fellowship at Soros’ Open Society Institute. But it’s not clear if Soros is directly funding the group.
Asked about the Tea Party movement, Cizik denounced it as “regressive” and a flawed form of “secular constitutionalism.” According to Cizik, “The Tea Party movement is irreligious, significantly so. It’s got lots of problems. I wouldn’t join it if I were an evangelical, [I] urge others not to or at least to be suspicious of it. Because it doesn’t bring with it, in my estimation, the whole biblical concept of our responsibility and the rest to God. And so, I’m not a Tea Party fan.” He elaborated about the incongruities he sees between the Tea Party movement, which he sees as libertarian, and traditionally conservative evangelicals.
Gross concluded by asking Cizik to describe the evolution of his beliefs in recent years. “In both cases [climate change and gay civil unions] I had epiphanies. I just came to the conclusion based on a lot of evidence over the course of years that these were the right decisions to make. In the case of climate change, [my conclusion was] based on science. I don’t have a conflict, internal religious conflict, with science per se. So I came to that conclusion on climate change based on presentation of the arguments and evidence. And I happen to believe those arguments and evidence for climate change, global climate change, are real and very important. And the impacts are going to be enormous on the planet. I also came to the conclusion based upon my gut sense, that is, on civil unions. Gut sense that we can’t deprive people of their rights in society, even if we happen to disagree with them.” To which he promptly added, “And, look, I say if you’ve not changed your mind about something ever, pinch yourself. You may be dead.”
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