(Daily Caller) President Barack  Obama’s campaign to woo growing Hispanic communities in southern states  being thwarted by his simultaneous campaign to regulate their neighborhood  churches, both Catholic and evangelical.

The proposed regulation “has caused an incredible amount of consternation and  angst in the Hispanic community. … It is un-American to tell my pastor, my  minister, my priest that they have to violate what they believe in,” said Rev.  Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership  Conference.

The conference represents 18,000 non-Catholic churches and 15 million  Hispanic evangelicals, or roughly one third of Hispanics in the United  States.

Evidence of a breach was released Feb. 8, when a Rasmussen poll showed that  65 percent of Catholics opposed the proposed regulation, which claims the  federal government has the authority to fine religious groups that don’t offer  their employees health-insurance with free contraception services.

That percentage is likely higher among white swing-voting Catholics in the  must-win states of Pennsylvania and Ohio, and significantly lower among Hispanic  voters in southern states.

However, Obama’s deputies are seeking to win 65 percent or more of the  Hispanic vote, to offset losses among white voters. In 2008, Obama won 54  percent of all Catholics, and 67 percent of the Hispanic vote.

Rodriguez said the proposed regulation is changing Hispanic evangelicals’ friendly attitudes towards the Obama administration. “All of the sudden it was  turned around,” he said. It is “a key moment for how the religious community  will support the administration going forward,” he said.

“The federal government is coming after us. … It is an unprecedented level of  intrusion into the free exercise of religion. … Across the board, our  conversation is that is a line too far,” said Rodriquez, who has repeatedly  clashed with Republicans on such issues as immigration rules.

Already, he said, “we are hearing Hispanic voters who supported Obama in 2008  saying ‘We cannot support Obama in 20012.’”  (read more)

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