“We have become so absorbed in the question of gay rights and the rest that we fail to understand the challenges and threats to marriage itself, heterosexual marriage,” Cizik said. “Maybe we need to reevaluate this and look at it a little differently.”

He told NPR that four in 10 young evangelicals say they have a close friend or family member who is gay or lesbian; as many as 52 percent favor either same-sex marriage or civil unions.

Cizik disclosed that he had voted for Barack Obama in the primaries, that younger evangelicals “know gay people” and aren’t as “threatened” as their parents. He also suggested that Sarah Palin’s positions on global warming – which he defines as “creation care” – were like burning the Bible.