Richard Cizik

rdf:langString Richard Cizik

rdf:langString Richard Cizik (/ˈsaɪzɪk/ SYE-zik) is President of the New Evangelical Partnership for the Common Good. He was the Vice President for Governmental Affairs of the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) and one of the most prominent Evangelical lobbyists in the United States. In his position with the NAE, Cizik's primary responsibilities were setting the organization's policy on issues and lobbying the White House, Congress, and the Supreme Court. Cizik also served as NAE's national spokesman and edited a monthly magazine, NAE Washington Insight. Since 2003, Cizik has been active in a type of environmentalism known as "creation care"; his stance on global warming has drawn both support and criticism from fellow Evangelicals. He serves on the Board of Advisors of the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions. In 2008, he and Nobel Prize winner Eric Chivian, as a team, were named one of the 100 most influential scientists and thinkers by Time. On December 11, 2008, Cizik gave his resignation from his position with NAE after a December 2 radio broadcast of NPR's Fresh Air in which he voiced support for same-sex civil unions. His comments and his resignation have generated both strong support and strong criticism within the evangelical Christian community. In January 2010, Cizik launched the New Evangelical Partnership for the Common Good together with David P. Gushee, professor of Christian Ethics at Mercer University, and Steve Martin, a pastor and documentary filmmaker. The faith-based non-profit, which represents the merger of the previously distinct but sometimes interrelated efforts of the three founding partners, reportedly exists "to advance human well-being as an expression of our love for Jesus Christ, which is itself a grateful response to his love for us and for a good but suffering world."