From Townhall.com.

Baptist Press
Thursday, July 03, 2008

DENVER (BP)--Giving a significant boost to Republican John McCain's goal of attracting the votes of social conservatives, nearly 100 pro-family leaders gathering in Denver July 1 agreed to unify behind the Arizona senator for president.

The leaders also approved a "Declaration of American Values" with 10 common goals, such as protecting the sanctity of life and affirming natural, traditional marriage. (A copy of the document is at the end of this story.)

A complete list of attendees was not released, but representatives who were there confirmed to Baptist Press that Phyllis Schlafly of Eagle Forum, Mat Staver of Liberty Counsel, Wendy Wright of Concerned Women for America and Tim and Beverly LaHaye were among those present. Focus on the Family and the American Family Association also had representatives in attendance. One leading conservative, Paul Weyrich, did not attend because of health reasons but is "fully on board" and sent someone to represent him, Staver said.

Staver, who called the meeting, acknowledged that "there have been some bruises and disagreements" among conservatives during the primary season but said it was time to move on. He said "99.9 percent" of those who were in attendance agreed to get behind McCain. The meeting was first reported by Time.com.

"I felt that it was absolutely critical in order to preserve our shared core Christian and moral values that we have unity among the leadership and that we look at the landscape and focus not on candidates, not on personalities and not on parties but on our values, and then assess who can best advance those values," Staver told BP. "Once we did that, it was pretty obvious that that would be Sen. John McCain, because Sen. Barack Obama would decimate them.

"... We're not suggesting that supports 100 percent of the values that we support," Staver continued. "We are, however, saying that he is an individual of integrity and that he would support our values more than Sen. Barack Obama."

Other attendees at the meeting included Dick and Rich Bott of Bott Radio Network, Kelly Shackelford of the Texas-based Free Market Foundation, John Stemberger of the Florida Family Policy Council, Phil Burress of the Ohio-based Citizens for Community Values, Tim Clinton of the American Association of Christian Counselors, David Barton of WallBuilders, William Owens of the Coalition of African-American Pastors, Steve Strang of Charisma Magazine and Don Hodel, former president of Focus on the Family.

James Dobson of Focus on the Family was in California working on a book and did not attend.

The meeting was but the latest good news for McCain regarding support from pro-family leaders. Several days earlier, Burress -- who had previously stated his concerns about McCain -- announced in an e-mail to friends he had had a change of heart after having a private meeting, along with five other pro-family leaders, with McCain in Ohio June 26. Burress said he believes there's a greater difference between McCain and Obama than there was in 2004 between President Bush and Democrat John Kerry.

"It's not even close," he said.

McCain, Burress said, sides with social conservatives on the major issues, particularly abortion and the judiciary. (McCain says he wants to see Roe v. Wade overturned.) Further, Burress also said he takes heart in McCain's pledge to nominate Supreme Court justices like President Bush's two nominees, John Roberts and Samuel Alito. The concerns Burress says he had about McCain are gone, Burress said.

"This is not your typical politician. He doesn't stick his finger in the wind," said Burress, adding he will work in Ohio to educate people about the differences between McCain and Obama.

But Burress also said it's crucial for McCain to choose a pro-life, pro-family running mate. Some conservative leaders, Burress said, will abandon McCain if he does otherwise.

The make-up of the Supreme Court is one issue driving conservatives' sense of urgent need to get behind McCain. The two oldest members of the court -- 88-year-old John Paul Stevens and 75-year-old Ruth Bader Ginsburg -- both support Roe v. Wade and, some observers believe, are wanting to retire but waiting for a Democrat to win the White House. Some conservatives believe the court is only one vote away from overturning Roe.

"The judiciary is a huge factor," Staver said. "It's important who sits on the United States Supreme Court bench and who is appointed in the other federal courts ... because those affect our shared core values. Those judges either protect or they undermine our shared core values."

Staver also said the leaders in Denver discussed ways to advances their goals beyond November.

"We want to make sure we have a trans-generational, multi-ethnic, multi-racial coalition of similarly associated individuals who share these values," he said.