Richard Cizik is the vice president for governmental affairs of the National Association of Evangelicals. Since 2003, he has drawn widespread support and criticism from his fellow evangelicals for his outspoken advocacy of a brand of environmentalism rooted in Scripture. During his recent visit to Harvard, Cizik sat down with HPR to discuss his vision for “creation care” and its implications for the Evangelical movement at large.
HPR: Why is environmentalism an Evangelical issue?
Richard Cizik: It hasn’t always been, but it is now. Ultimately the idea that every Christian should be an environmentalist arises out of service to God—out of a mandate to be a steward. I don’t ask Evangelicals to call themselves environmentalists, because there are too many hurdles for them to do that—old stereotypes and such—so I tell them to be an Earth steward, or a caretaker of the Earth, or an advocate of Creation care— it doesn’t matter what you want to call it as long as you do it.
I have a verse I love to share, from Matthew 6:20, which reads, “But store up your treasures not on this Earth, for moths and rust destroy and thieves steal, but in Heaven, where neither moths nor rust destroy, nor thieves steal.” If heavenly values are the values of sustainability, then our task is to bring that value to this Earth, and ultimately that makes us care-takers, stewards, and, if you will, environmentalists.
