Interview: NAE President Leith Anderson on Richard Cizik's Resignation
'If he did not appropriately represent NAE, then he has lost credibility as a spokesperson.'
Interview by Sarah Pulliam | posted 12/11/2008 01:58PM
Richard Cizik resigned today as vice president for governmental affairs of the National Association of Evangelicals after he told National Public Radio that he is shifting his views on same-sex unions. Leith Anderson, president of the National Association of Evangelicals, explained the turn of events to Christianity Today.
Was Cizik asked to resign?
There was a discussion and a consensus that his credibility as spokesperson for the NAE was irreparably compromised. It was out of reporting that discussion to Richard Cizik that he and I discussed together and mutually concluded that his resignation was appropriate.
What exactly in NPR's Fresh Air interview caused concern?
His role as a spokesperson is to advocate for NAE's values and positions, and that did not appropriately come through in what he said or the way he said it, and it was on several fronts.
Cizik said in the interview, "I'm shifting, I have to admit. In other words, I would willingly say that I believe in civil unions. I don't officially support redefining marriage from its traditional definition, I don't think." Is that the part that caused concern?
What you're asking for is specifics, and I don't think that our discussion was primarily parsing words. It was whether or not he in this interview adequately was a representative for NAE and our constituency, and the conclusion was that he was not. The NAE's position on gay marriage is not shifting. And we are not advocates for civil unions, although many evangelicals recognize the reality that civil unions have become law in many states. But we're not advocating for them.
Most of the interview was about the environment.
It was not the part about the environment. As far as the environment is concerned, NAE, in its "For the Health of the Nation" statement, clearly says that creation care is one of the values that we do espouse.
Cizik has also been criticized for telling NPR that he voted for Barack Obama in the primary. Was that also a concern for the NAE?
Generally in America, people don't say whom they vote for. I think in listening to the interview, it seemed to me that [Fresh Air host] Terry Gross was surprised that he said whom he voted for. And he declined to say whom he voted for in the general election. But for NAE and all of us who seek to be a bipartisan voice, it's generally not in our best interests to declare whom we vote for.
Did he say something in that interview that NAE doesn't support? For instance, is there anywhere in the NAE documents that says the NAE doesn't support civil unions?
I don't know off the top of my head, because [civil unions are] a relatively recent phenomenon. We have had resolutions passed that have clearly declared that our understanding of biblical marriage is one man to one woman. I think … that the role of an NAE spokesperson is primarily on behalf of what we have said, not on behalf of what we have not said. It's also to represent our constituency, and our constituency does not favor civil unions.
He also said in the interview that he would support the government providing contraception. Do you know where the NAE stands on that?
I don't recall that the NAE has ever adopted a specific position on that. What we have strongly spoken to is that abortion on demand is not moral, it is not right, and it should not be legal. We have not weighed out a political or other plan for ways of doing that, except we would call people to not have abortions, to abstain from illicit sex, and to value lives.
In the interview, did he misrepresent himself, or did he misrepresent the NAE?
December (Web-only) 2008, Vol. 53
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