Redemption
America’s evangelicals exiled their leader for insufficient orthodoxy. Now he’s back, and he’s unrepentant.
Richard Cizik remembers it this way: he had just come home from a week in Australia and was about to jet off to Paris when he sat down on Dec. 2, 2008 for his post-election interview with NPR’s Terry Gross. She opened by asking him who he voted for, and though he demurred, he offered a big hint. “In the Virginia primary, I voted for Barack Obama,” he said.
A few minutes later, she asked the question that would cost Cizik his job: “Have you changed on gay marriage?”
“I’m shifting,” Cizik answered, truthfully, “I have to admit. In other words, I would willingly say I believe in civil unions.”