Cizik Watch: Richard, you are in serious peril of losing your soul

The leftward slide of Richard Cizik, former vice president for governmental affairs for the National Association of Evangelicals, has been chronicled here before. Having left a permanent scar on the NAE's commitment to sanctity of life issues (among others), Cizik has moved on to bigger and better things as the liberal media's favorite "evangelical," being ready in season and out to offer his unique perspective on controversial issues.

But Cizik's fall from grace is a serious matter which ought to be of grave concern to believers. Reading his latest collaboration with the forces of cultural accommodation, a Washington Post editorial co-authored with Unitarian-Universalist minister Debra Haffner, it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that Cizik has completely sold out his convictions in exchange for the adulation of the media and the favor of a rancid, decaying, and morally corrupt American religious establishment.

As religious leaders, we are both called to respond to the needs of the most marginalized, the most vulnerable, and the most likely to be excluded. Both of our organizations are committed to Goal Five of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, calling for improved global maternal health by reducing maternal mortality by three quarters and achieving universal access to reproductive health. Both of us are committed to helping create a just and equitable world where no woman will die giving birth to the next generation.

Although we hold differing moral values about abortion, we share a commitment that because life is sacred, it should never be created carelessly or unintentionally. That is why we both support the Title X family planning program, which helps avert nearly one million pregnancies in the United States annually. That is why we have a shared belief in international family planning programs, because we know that maternal mortality around the world could be reduced by more than 70 percent by improved access to reproductive health services. We support domestic and international family planning because we know it reduces neonatal and maternal morbidity and mortality, including deaths attributable to unsafe abortions--and it helps build strong families and lives.

As religious leaders, we are called to improve women's and children's lives. It is simply inconceivable to either of us that those who oppose abortion services also have voted to cut or eliminate family planning, prenatal care, mother and infant nutrition programs, and community health services. We stand together in calling on people of faith across the religious spectrum to stand up for the needs of low-income families and their children. We are pro-faith, pro-family, and pro-child.

As people of faith, we call on the U.S. Senate to reject the draconian and ultimately immoral cuts proposed by the U.S. House of Representatives. As religious leaders called by God to co-create a better world where all may flourish and thrive, we can do no less.

Richard, you are in serious peril of losing your soul. Repent and return to the faith you once professed.