WASHINGTON (RNS) Former National Association of Evangelical lobbyist Richard Cizik joined a high-profile panel here on Thursday (April 8) that praised the new U.S.-Russia nuclear pact and pushed for further reductions in nuclear arms.
Speaking at the National Press Club on the day President Obama’s signed the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty with Russia, the advocates explained how they intend to supplement the administration’s mission.
The panelist perspectives were eclectic — ranging from entertainment industry veterans Lawrence Bender and Jeff Skoll, to former CIA operative Valerie Plame, to Cizik. Despite their varying backgrounds, the speakers uniformly support the same movement, Global Zero, established in 2008 to combat the growing global nuclear threat.
“I was a conservative,” said Cizik, who resigned from the NAE in 2008 after saying that he could support civil unions for gay couples. “I changed. I now view these weapons with a reality and a fear that is rightly in place.”
As a fellow at the Open Society Institute, Cizik refuses, and no longer feels pressure to censor his views on what were once considered taboo topics.
Cizik said he draws inspiration to advocate on behalf of global warming and nuclear weapon elimination from the Bible, particularly the book of Genesis. “We are to care and protect the earth,” he noted. “We read those verses and they never meant anything to us.”
