National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference and Freedom Federation Respond to President Obama's Recently Announced Policy on DOMA

WASHINGTON, March 8, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, President of America's largest Hispanic Christian organization, The National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference (www.NHCLC.org), also known as the Hispanic National Association of Evangelicals, along with Freedom Federation (www.freedomfederation.org), the nation's largest evangelical faith-based organization, is urging Congress to oppose President Obama's recent DOMA directive.

Last week Attorney General Eric Holder stated that the President had "instructed" the Justice Department to no longer to defend the constitutionality of DOMA in federal courts. Rev. Rodriguez said, "I whole heartedly disagree with President Obama's DOMA directive. In light of the fact that Congress passed this law, today, we call on Congress to step in and defend the law as Constitutional and act on behalf of the American people."

Rodriguez continued emphatically, "Traditional marriage is the #1 antidote against the social ills–drugs, teen pregnancy and high school drop out rate–that plague races of color. We applaud Speaker John Boehner's action to build a legal case defending DOMA."

Matthew Staver, Dean and Professor of Law at Liberty University and Director of Liberty Center for Law And Policy, said, "Traditional marriage is the cornerstone of America. Redefining marriage is not in the best interest of the family unit. Abandoning the Defense of Marriage Act is tantamount to declaring war on the family. The more than 40 million people represented by the organizations that comprise the Freedom Federation call on Congress to act now to defend natural marriage between one man and one woman."

"We stand with the NHCLC and applaud House Speaker John Boehner and the Members of Congress for stepping up to the plate to defend marriage and the federal Defense of Marriage Act," Staver continued. "We fully support this action and applaud the leadership shown by Speaker Boehner. We must strengthen marriage, not destroy it or redefine it."

The National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference is the Hispanic National Association of Evangelicals unifying, serving and representing the Hispanic Born Again Community via 30,454 member churches and 16 million constituents by reconciling the vertical and horizontal of the Christian Message through the 7 Directives of Life, Family, Great Commission, Stewardship, Justice, Education and Youth. For more information on the NHCLC please go to www.nhclc.org.

SOURCE The National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference