A new organization of progressive evangelicals has formed, calling for complete cancellation of Haiti’s foreign debt in order to aid an already-fragile economy devastated by a Jan. 12 earthquake.

The Jan. 22 announcement of the New Evangelical Partnership for Common Good marks the full return into public life of Rich Cizik, former vice president for governmental affairs of the National Association of Evangelicals.

Cizik, who resigned the post in 2008 following an outcry after he said on National Public Radio that he no longer opposed civil unions for gays, is one of three founding leaders of the new religious non-profit.

Cizik will work with David Gushee, a professor at Mercer University and regular columnist for Associated Baptist Press, and Steven Martin, a minister, filmmaker and activist who previously worked with Gushee as executive vice president of Evangelicals for Human Rights.

“We have founded this organization to bear witness to the love of God in Jesus Christ,” Gushee said in a statement. “We have yearned to offer a better model for how Christians address public issues; to be known for always standing up for those whom God loves but the world or the church often mistreat or neglect.”

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