Religious Right Attacks Obama’s Gay Marriage Stance

President criticized by Christian conservatives who call support of gay marriage wrong.

The gay community and its supporters are largely applauding President Barack Obama’s decision to come out in favor of same-sex marriage during an ABC News interview on Wednesday. Christian conservatives, however, have an entirely different take on the matter.

Some have characterized the president’s support of same-sex marriage as an attack on traditional marriage. Others say that President Obama’s support of same-sex marriage will make it that much easier for presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney to win the 2012 election.

Here’s a roundup of how the religious right reacted to President Obama’s decision to publicly back same-sex marriage.

The Rev. Sam Rodríguez of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference told Fox News Latino: “We are both pro-traditional marriage and anti-homophobia. This is not about civil unions or a legal apparatus. This is about the government saying, we are going to hijack a religious doctrine and change it for you.”

Bob Vander Plaats of The Family Leader told CNN: “This decision may have made Barack Obama a one-term president. This will stoke a part of the religious base even more against Obama. They were already fired up to get rid of Obama. This will only make them more on fire to get rid of him. And if I’m Romney today, I’m smiling.”

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Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council told CNN, "Considering that 10 of the 16 battleground states have marriage amendments that could be overturned by the president's new policy position on marriage, today's announcement almost ensures that marriage will again be a major issue in the presidential election. The president has provided a clear contrast between him and his challenger, Mitt Romney. Romney, who has signed a pledge to support a marriage protection amendment to the U.S. Constitution, may have been handed the key to social conservative support by President Obama.”

Cardinal Timothy Dolan of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops released a statement, saying: “I pray for the President every day, and will continue to pray that he and his administration act justly to uphold and protect marriage as the union of one man and one woman.”