Evangelical leader supports 'gay' civil unions
Claims Christians should 'give biblical point of view a different slant'
Posted: December 05, 2008
1:00 am Eastern
© 2008 WorldNetDaily
 Richard Cizik (photo: National Association of Evangelicals) |
An influential evangelical leader is coming under fire for saying in a National Public Radio interview he believes in homosexual civil unions on and declaring that Christians who oppose same-sex marriage and abortion may still find reasons to support Obama.
Richard Cizik is chief lobbyist and vice president for governmental affairs for the National Association of Evangelicals, representing 45,000 U.S. churches from 59 denominations. He told NPR Dec. 2 he is "shifting" on "gay" marriage, he has an aversion to Sarah Palin and that he voted for Obama in the Virginia primary, LifeNews reported.
"I happen to think in the primary he was the best choice," Cizik said.
Cizik refused to reveal which candidate received his vote in the general election but in a September interview with the Colorado Independent, Cizik expressed disapproval of John McCain's campaign. McCain "is not the John McCain of 2000. ... He seems to be waffling on issue after issue," he said.
Cizik told NPR a candidate's character and party values are more significant to him than specific issues such as abortion and same-sex marriage.
"It would be possible for evangelicals to disagree with Barack Obama on same sex marriage and abortion and yet vote for him."
Cizik, named one of Time's most influential people, called Palin's stance on the environment "ignorance." He also said she lacked humility, unlike Obama. Prior to the election, he told the Independent, "Not everyone in the evangelical movement is fawning over Sarah Palin."
When NPR asked Cizik about whether his views could change on "gay" marriage, he said, "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."
According to the report, Cizik suggested Christians should redirect their focus away from the debate about "gay" marriage.
"Maybe we need to reevaluate this and look at it a little differently," he told NPR. "I'm always looking for ways to reframe issues. Give the biblical point of view a different slant."
Ingrid Schlueter, co-host of Crosstalk Radio, said Cizik appears to be more concerned with appeasing NPR's listeners than supporting Christian principles.
"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," she said. "The moral anarchy in America worsens daily largely due to the refusal of evangelical Christians to stand for biblical truth in all areas of life. Those who are at war with God, the author of life, should be publicly confronted by evangelical Christians. Instead, they are aided and abetted in their evil by craven leaders like Cizik."
2 comments:
I'm Not One Of Those 'Love Thy Neighbor' Christians
By Janet Cosgrove
Christian
November 19, 2008 | Issue 44•47
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Everybody has this image of "crazy Christians" based on what they hear in the media, but it's just not true. Most Christians are normal, decent folks. We don't all blindly follow a bunch of outdated biblical tenets or go all fanatical about every bit of dogma. What I'm trying to say is, don't let the actions of a vocal few color your perceptions about what the majority of us are like.
Like me. I may be a Christian, but it's not like I'm one of those wacko "love your neighbor as yourself " types.
God forbid!
I'm here to tell you there are lots of Christians who aren't anything like the preconceived notions you may have. We're not all into "turning the other cheek." We don't spend our days committing random acts of kindness for no credit. And although we believe that the moral precepts in the Book of Leviticus are the infallible word of God, it doesn't mean we're all obsessed with extremist notions like "righteousness" and "justice."
My faith in the Lord is about the pure, simple values: raising children right, saying grace at the table, strictly forbidding those who are Methodists or Presbyterians from receiving communion because their beliefs are heresies, and curing homosexuals. That's all. Just the core beliefs. You won't see me going on some frothy-mouthed tirade about being a comfort to the downtrodden.
I'm a normal Midwestern housewife. I believe in the basic teachings of the Bible and the church. Divorce is forbidden. A woman is to be an obedient subordinate to the male head of the household. If a man lieth down with another man, they shall be taken out and killed. Things everybody can agree on, like the miracle of glossolalia that occurred during Pentecost, when the Apostles were visited by the Holy Spirit, who took the form of cloven tongues of fire hovering just above their heads. You know, basic common sense stuff.
But that doesn't mean I think people should, like, forgive the sins of those who trespass against them or anything weird like that.
We're not all "Jesus Freaks" who run around screaming about how everyone should "Judge not lest ye be judged," whine "Blessed are the meek" all the time, or drone on and on about how we're all equal in the eyes of God! Some of us are just trying to be good, honest folks who believe the unbaptized will roam the Earth for ages without the comfort of God's love when Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior returns on Judgment Day to whisk the righteous off to heaven.
Now, granted, there are some Christians on the lunatic fringe who take their beliefs a little too far. Take my coworker Karen, for example. She's way off the deep end when it comes to religion: going down to the homeless shelter to volunteer once a month, donating money to the poor, visiting elderly shut-ins with the Meals on Wheels program—you name it!
But believe me, we're not all that way. The people in my church, for the most part, are perfectly ordinary Americans like you and me. They believe in the simple old-fashioned traditions—Christmas, Easter, the slow and deliberate takeover of more and more county school boards to get the political power necessary to ban evolution from textbooks statewide. That sort of thing.
We oppose gay marriage as an abomination against the laws of God and America, we're against gun control, and we fervently and unwaveringly believe that the Jews, Muslims, and all on earth who are not born-again Pentecostalists are possessed by Satan and should be treated as such.
When it comes down to it, all we want is to see every single member of the human race convert to our religion or else be condemned by a jealous and wrathful God to suffer an eternity of agony and torture in the Lake of Fire!
I hope I've helped set the record straight, and I wish you all a very nice day! God bless you!
The ancient Anglo-Saxons had it right with their law. There were only 4 offenses which were considered crimes against the whole people: 1. Treason 2. Cowardice 3. Desertion 4. Homosexuality. All were punishable by death. All other offenses were considered against the individual. Maybe this is why the Anglo-Saxon heritage is spat upon in this postmodern era.
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