Associated Baptist Press - Evangelical leaders seek broad moral agenda in Cizik replacement

Evangelical leaders seek broad moral agenda in Cizik replacement

By ABP staff

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

WASHINGTON (ABP) -- Fifty-nine evangelical leaders signed a letter requesting that whoever is chosen to replace ousted lobbyist Richard Cizik at the National Association of Evangelicals carry on Cizik's commitment to a moral agenda broader than opposition to homosexuality and abortion.

In a letter to NAE President Leith Anderson dated Dec. 16, the evangelical leaders expressed gratitude for Cizik's "broad Christian moral agenda that has helped define American Evangelicals' public witness."

Cizik resigned Dec. 10 as the NAE's vice president for governmental affairs after saying in a radio interview his view on gay marriage was shifting and he now supports civil unions for same-sex couples.

Anderson said that statement "did not appropriately represent the values and convictions of NAE and our constituents."

The letter from evangelical leaders acknowledged the NAE's right to choose its own spokesperson, yet urged that Cizik's replacement support "a broad Christian moral agenda" including not only the family and right to life but also human rights, peace and the environment.

Baptist signers included David Gushee, president of Evangelicals for Human Rights; Jonathan Merritt, spokesperson for the Southern Baptist Environment and Climate Initiative; Carey Newman, director of Baylor University Press; and Glenn Stassen, a professor at Fuller Theological Seminary.

Another evangelical leader, Jim Wallis of Sojourners, said the Religious Right is already using Cizik's departure in attempt to steer the organization toward a narrower social agenda.

"I personally trust Leith Anderson's and the NAE Executive Committee's commitment to the wider evangelical agenda beyond just abortion and gay marriage, but also feel deeply saddened by these events," Wallis said in a statement.

Wallis urged NAE 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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what a waste of God's money!
written by Dr. J, December 18, 2008

Only hyper-liberals can misconstrue the mission of evangelicals to include the voodoo science of global warming (climate change).

Support Cizik
written by Minnesota Nicer, December 18, 2008

Others can sign the letter of support at http://www.wholegospelagenda.org

secular non-progressive, counter-biblical christianity
written by Dr. J, December 22, 2008

These "religious leaders" are calling for Christian evangelicalism to consist of something very similar to the belief system of the Old Testament Baal worshippers: Sacrifice unwanted children (abortion)to the fertility god (choice, reproductive freeedom); whitewashed promiscuity (gay rights); and pantheistic worship of mother earth (radical environmentalism, climate change voodoo). This is not Christian evangelicalism, it is quasi-Christianity or counter-Biblical Christianity. Please- when are "religious leaders" going to focus their efforts and God's money on winning the lost to Christ? Give me a break. By the way, the similarities to Baal worhship are not original with me. Origin was in a sermon by Pastor John Mabray, Rivermont Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Lynchburg, VA

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