Evangelicals Affirm Stance on Environment, Oppose Torture

c. 2007 Religion News Service (UNDATED) The National Association of Evangelicals has affirmed its stance on caring for the environment _ indirectly rebuffing complaints that a staffer was too environmentally friendly _ and endorsed a statement condemning torture. Focus on the Family Chairman James Dobson and two dozen other evangelical leaders had asked the board […]

c. 2007 Religion News Service

(UNDATED) The National Association of Evangelicals has affirmed its stance on caring for the environment _ indirectly rebuffing complaints that a staffer was too environmentally friendly _ and endorsed a statement condemning torture.

Focus on the Family Chairman James Dobson and two dozen other evangelical leaders had asked the board to consider ousting the Rev. Richard Cizik, the NAE’s vice president for governmental affairs, because of his “relentless campaign” against global warming.


But NAE interim President Leith Anderson said no formal action was taken by the group’s board of directors on the request from Dobson and others, none of whom are members of the evangelical umbrella group.

“I affirmed him (Cizik) and I’ve done that publicly and in the board meeting and there was a lot of affirmation of Rich Cizik at the board meeting,” Anderson said Tuesday (March 13).

Instead of addressing the request related to Cizik, the board members reaffirmed an earlier document on “an evangelical call to public engagement,” which embraces care for the creation. They also affirmed a document titled “An Evangelical Declaration Against Torture: Protesting Human Rights in an Age of Terror.”

Cizik said he considered the board’s actions “a strong affirmation” of his role with the association.

“I think that support was … reflected in the vote we took on the torture and human rights document,” he said. “There was only one dissenting vote.”

The “public engagement” statement, first issued in 2003, notes the broad range of issues evangelicals should address, including religious freedom, sanctity of human life, care for the poor and protecting “God’s earth.”

The torture document, developed by the Tennessee-based Evangelicals for Human Rights, is signed by Cizik, Christianity Today Editor David Neff and 20 other ministers and professors.


“When torture is employed by a state, that act communicates to the world and to one’s own people that human lives are not sacred, that they are not reflections of the Creator,” the statement said. “These are claims that no one who confesses Christ as Lord can accept.”

In a March 1 letter to NAE Board Chairman L. Roy Taylor, Dobson and other signatories had expressed concern that Cizik and others were moving the emphasis of evangelicals from the “great moral issues of our time,” including abortion and homosexuality.

Cizik said he doesn’t expect evangelicals _ inside or outside the association _ will always agree.

“I think we should view ourselves as a family that pulls together and unifies around basic principles and affords the opportunity to disagree without being fractious relatives who don’t talk to one another,” he said.

The meeting, held March 8-9 at Anderson’s Wooddale Church in Eden Prairie, Minn., was the first full board meeting since the resignation last November of its former president, Ted Haggard. Haggard was removed as pastor of his Colorado Springs, Colo., church amid a sex scandal.

Several members of the NAE’s executive committee have been chosen to begin a process related to choosing Anderson’s successor.


“The organization has had both part-time and full-time presidents and these different approaches have to be resolved before a candidate is approached,” Anderson said.

KRE/PH END BANKS

Editors: To obtain file photos of Anderson and Cizik, go to the RNS Web site at https://religionnews.com. On the lower right, click on “photos,” then search by subject or slug.

Donate to Support Independent Journalism!

Donate Now!