(CNN) -- Tea Party activists and other conservatives are planning rallies next month in support of Arizona's tough new immigration law, which has come under attack from Democrats, Latino groups and some maverick Republicans. But a growing chorus of conservative evangelical leaders has broken with their traditional political allies on the right. They're calling the Arizona law misguided and are attempting to use its passage to push for federal immigration reform that includes a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants. The group, which includes influential political activists such as Richard Land, head of the Southern Baptist Convention's public policy wing, and Mathew Staver, dean of the Liberty University School of Law, will soon begin lobbying Republican leaders in Washington to support comprehensive immigration reform under President Obama.
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Some conservative evangelical leaders call Arizona's new immigration law misguided
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They want federal reform that includes path to citizenship for illegal immigrants
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They're trying to persuade rank-and-file evangelicals to get on board
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Many evangelicals call push for reform biblically based; some want GOP to woo Hispanics
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"If the conservative evangelical community looks to the Republican Party and says, 'We demand integration reform, we demand a just assimilation strategy,' that may be the tipping point in getting substantial @placeholder support for comprehensive immigration reform," Rodriguez said.
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But evangelical leaders are also working to convince @placeholder that the party will lose Hispanic voters -- a fast-growing bloc -- if they take a strident line on immigration.
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But evangelical leaders are also working to convince Republicans that the party will lose @placeholder voters -- a fast-growing bloc -- if they take a strident line on immigration.
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"Hispanics are hard-wired to be like us on sanctity of life, marriage and issues of faith," said @placeholder, describing political similarities between Hispanics and white Southern Baptists.
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"Hispanics are hard-wired to be like us on sanctity of life, marriage and issues of faith," said Land, describing political similarities between @placeholder and white Southern Baptists.
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Rodriguez says he declined to join other Latino groups in calling for a boycott of @placeholder because he thought it would alienate white evangelicals at a time when he's trying to win their support.