Last month, Richard Cizik, Vice President of Governmental Affairs for the National Association of Evangelicals, resigned from his position after telling NPR, among other things, that his views regarding marriage equality were shifting. That interview led to an outcry from NAE members and other Religious Right leaders that eventually forced him from the organization.
Now the NAE has begun the search for his replacement:
America’s largest evangelical body launched a search for a new director of government affairs on Tuesday to replace Richard Cizik who was forced to resign in December over controversial remarks he made about same-sex civil unions and abortion.
The National Association of Evangelicals, which claims to represent 30 million evangelicals, is considering candidates who can represent the organization before Congress, the White House and the Courts based on the principles found in the NAE document “For the Health of the Nation: An Evangelical Call to Civic Responsibility.”
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Required qualifications include, among others, personal faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, agreement to and affirmation of the NAE Statement of Faith, and participation in an NAE affiliated congregation.
It looks like the NAE is taking no chances this time around because, as the article points out, the job description says that candidates must be willing and able to affirm and articulate “NAE policies, priorities and positions in writing and speech (including but not limited to For the Health of the Nation: An Evangelical Call to Civic Responsibility).” That policy paper makes it abundantly clear that the organization has no intention of moderating its position when it comes to opposing any effort to achieve equality in marriage:
The Bible makes it clear that God cares a great deal about the well-being of marriage, the family, the sanctity of human life, justice for the poor, care for creation, peace, freedom, and racial justice. While individual persons and organizations are at times called by God to concentrate on one or two issues, faithful evangelical civic engagement must champion a biblically balanced agenda … We commit ourselves to work for laws that protect and foster family life, and against government attempts to interfere with the integrity of the family. We also oppose innovations such as same-sex “marriage” … We also oppose the expansion of “rights talk” to encompass so-called rights such as “same-sex marriage.”
