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In my conversations, he did not appropriately represent the NAE or our constituents, nor did he clearly represent his own views. I'm sure there are those who perceive that he did clearly present his own views, but my understanding is he wishes he could do this over again, and if he could do it over again, he would choose different words and would communicate a different message than [what] has been understood.

Cizik has been a strong advocate for creation care and has gone into specifics about whether global warming is manmade and issues like that. Some have said he hasn't been representative of the constituency on that front. What would be your response?

"For the Health of the Nation" does state that creation care is one of our priorities. It does not state in that document that we have a specific position, because we don't, on global warming or emissions. So he has spoken as an individual on that. However, to most of our constituents, marriage and related moral issues are of greater importance and significance than specific stances on the climate.

This came up in 2007, when several evangelicals called for his resignation because of his "relentless campaign" against global warming. How is this time different? Would the complaints from this interview have been enough without earlier pressure from those individuals?

I think there are some differences. The event two years ago was not from NAE members or constituents. This time, there has been concern expressed from those who are from member constituents that have made clear that they are not comfortable with him representing NAE values and positions.

Did any members pull out after this interview?

I don't really know. This is all a week ago, so you know people come and go all the time, so I don't really know the answer to that.

Did any members threaten to pull out because of this interview?

We get hundreds of e-mails all the time, so it is possible that someone did. I don't recall anyone specifically saying to me, or anything that I read saying that they would withdraw membership in the NAE specifically because of the interview. Somebody probably did, but I can't tell you who it is.

Did complaints increase after this particular interview?

E-mails rise and fall; there are days when you get many and there are days when you get none. I don't really know the numbers compared to other times, but I would say there were a large number of e-mails that came from listeners.

I think the consensus of the executive committee was that he did not appropriately represent us. And if he did not appropriately represent NAE, then he has lost credibility as a spokesperson. That has implications [for] the future that are unknown but are important. And out of that came the conclusion in my discussion with Richard Cizik that resignation is best, although a difficult, choice.

Will the NAE take a new direction after this?

Of course, we'll take some new direction on something I don't know anything about yet. But is there some intended redefinition of who we are and what we're going to do? There isn't. I consider that the NAE goes back to 1942. We have been on a similar path with the same beliefs for the entire history of NAE. What we are is primarily an organization of churches and church-related organizations. We are not primarily a political entity. So the backbone of NAE is our 50-plus denominations, and that's a large part of who we are and what we do.

Will you try to fill his role right away?

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December (Web-only) 2008, Vol. 53