COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- Focus on the Family founder James Dobson is praising the way Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin and her husband are supporting their pregnant teenage daughter.

Dobson issued the statement Monday after Sarah and Todd Palin announced that her 17-year-old unmarried daughter is five months pregnant.

Dobson said the Palins should be commended for living out their "pro-life and pro-family values" even in trying circumstances. He said no one should paint Palin as a hypocrite because of her daughter's pregnancy. He said being a Christian doesn't mean you or your children are perfect but that there is "forgiveness and restoration when we confess our imperfections to the Lord."

Prominent religious conservatives, many of whom have been lukewarm toward John McCain's candidacy, predicted that the announcement would not diminish conservative Christian enthusiasm for the vice presidential hopeful, a staunch abortion opponent. In fact, there was talk that it might help.

Roberta Combs, president of the Christian Coalition of America called the pregnancy private.

"It's a matter that should stay in the family and they have to work through it together. My prayers go out to them." Added Combs: "We're excited about the governor and think she's going to do well."

Mathew Staver, dean of Liberty University School of Law, said: "We're all sinners."

"We all make mistakes. Certainly, the ideal is not to get pregnant out of wedlock. But she made the right decision after her mistake," he said.

Palin, a first-term Alaska governor, was in Minnesota preparing for her Wednesday night nomination acceptance speech when the McCain campaign issued the statement from Palin and her husband. Her family was home in Alaska.

Palin made the announcement of her daughter's pregnancy to quench Internet rumors that Palin's youngest son, born in April, was actually her daughter's.

Monday's statement, attributed to Sarah and Todd Palin and released by the campaign, said that Bristol Palin would keep her baby and marry the child's father, identified only as a young man named Levi. The baby is due in late December.

"Our beautiful daughter Bristol came to us with news that as parents we knew would make her grow up faster than we had ever planned. We're proud of Bristol's decision to have her baby and even prouder to become grandparents," Sarah and Todd Palin said in their brief statement.

"Bristol and the young man she will marry are going to realize very quickly the difficulties of raising a child, which is why they will have the love and support of our entire family," the parents said.

The campaign said it was not disclosing the father's full name or age or how he and Bristol knew each other, citing privacy.

The disclosure came on the opening day of the Republican National Convention, which has been scaled back because of Hurricane Gustav, and three days after McCain named Palin as his vice presidential running mate. Coming after the randomness of Gustav, the revelation added to the sense of unscriptedness that is hanging over the convention.

"Life happens," said McCain adviser Steve Schmidt.

"An American family," added colleague Mark Salter.

Palin told McCain's team about the pregnancy during lengthy discussions about her background, and the senator knew about it when he made her his surprise pick, aides said. At several points during the discussions, McCain's team warned Palin that the scrutiny into her private life would be intense and that there was nothing she could do to prepare for it.

Sarah Palin's fifth child, a boy named Trig, was born in April with Down syndrome. Internet bloggers have been suggesting that the child was actually born to Bristol Palin but that her mother, the 44-year-old Alaska governor, claimed to be the mother.

Palin spokesman Bill McAllister emphatically denied those rumors, and McCain adviser Mark Salter said the campaign announced the daughter's pregnancy to rebut them.

"Senator McCain's view is this is a private family matter. As parents, (the Palins) love their daughter unconditionally and are going to support their daughter," said McCain spokesman Steve Schmidt.

In Monroe, Mich., Democrat Obama condemned rumors involving the children of candidates and echoed the McCain campaign argument. He said, "I think people's families are off limits, and people's children are especially off limits."

"Our people were not involved in any way in this, and they will not be," he said. "And if I ever thought that there was somebody in my campaign that was involved in something like that, they'd be fired."