A new federation of two dozen conservative Christian groups announced plans today to work together to strategize around moral values they feel are under attack across the
country.
“We are not wed to a particular partisan candidate or party,” said Mathew Staver, founder of Liberty Counsel and an organizer of the Freedom Federation. “We are wed to core shared values.”
Those values include opposition to abortion, same-sex marriage and pornography and support for religious freedom, limited government and the right to own firearms.
The announcement followed a meeting of some 30 leaders who began a dialogue but did not draw up concrete action plans. Several leaders said work could include addressing health care reform and immigration reform and opposing gay marriage.
Asked if the federation is a response to the new Obama administration, with which many of the affiliated organizations often disagree, Staver said: “It certainly has heightened the concern. It didn’t start the concern.”
Representatives from the various groups, which include ethnic, women’s and youth organizations, said the federation will represent a more inclusive approach to addressing public policy.
“The stereotypical media-exacerbated image of the angry white evangelical will be replaced by an evangelical movement that will reconcile uncompromised values of compassion, truth with mercy, and righteousness with justice,” said the Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference
Wendy Wright, president of Concerned Women for America, said the federation will show the wide range of individuals and groups that agree on biblical guidelines.
“It is bringing together the different voices and different faces that all believe in the same core principles,” she said. “We are on the same page. We do believe the same things, regardless of our sex or our ethnicity.”
Among the groups represented are the American Association of Christian Counselors, the American Family Association, Catholic Online, Family Research Council, High Impact Leadership Coalition, Strang Communications, Traditional Values Coalition, Teen Mania, and Vision America.
