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WASHINGTON, D.C., August 7, 2012, (LifeSiteNews.com) –  A new campaign ad is showing social conservatives Mitt Romney is “not afraid” to address their issues.

“Obama used his health care plan to declare war on religion, forcing religious institutions to go against their faith,” the ad states. “When religious freedom is threatened, who do you want to stand with?”

The ad, “Be Not Afraid,” shows footage of Romney’s recent trip to Poland, where he credited Pope John Paul II with bringing down the Iron Curtain

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“We applaud Mitt Romney for taking a strong stand for religious liberty and alerting the people of America to the threat posed to our freedoms,” Maureen Ferguson and Ashley McGuire of The Catholic Association (TCA) wrote in an e-mail sent to LifeSiteNews.com.

“It was President Obama who picked this fight with people of faith when he shattered a long-standing bipartisan consensus protecting conscience rights in America,” they wrote. In promoting the HHS mandate, Obama “deliberately chose politics over religious liberty and conscience rights.”

The presumptive Republican nominee had come under fire since the beginning of the primary season for avoiding debates hosted by pro-life organizations, demonstrating little familiarity with their issues, and floating the possibility of naming a pro-abortion vice president, like Condoleezza Rice

Despite his moderation, Barack Obama spent the month of July savaging Romney as a pro-life extremist.

Conservatives are happy to see Romney speaking to their concerns, at last.

TCA warns a second Obama term will mean more lawsuits and mandates forcing religious people to violate their consciences, and more court cases like Hosanna v. Tabor trying to strip churches of their traditional prerogatives.

“HHS mandate is only the latest in a series of actions designed to confine religious freedom to houses of worship,” Ferguson and McGuire wrote.

The ad’s transcript and video follow.

Transcript

Narrator: Who shares your values? Obama used his health care plan to declare war on religion, forcing religious institutions to go against their faith. Mitt Romney believes that’s wrong.

Romney: In 1979, a son of Poland, Pope John Paul II, spoke words that would bring down an empire: “Be not afraid.”

Narrator: When religious freedom is threatened, who do you want to stand with?