A group of evangelical leaders Thursday slammed Donald Trump for what they describe as his biased racial views and asked Americans to join them in repudiating the Republican presidential candidate as the election nears.
"We believe that racism strikes at the heart of the gospel," the leaders said in an online petition. "We believe that racial justice and reconciliation is at the core of the message of Jesus.
"Because we believe that racial bigotry has been a cornerstone of this campaign, it is a foundational matter of the gospel for us in this election, and not just another issue.
"We cannot ignore this bigotry, set it aside, just focus on other issues," the leaders added. "No matter what other issues we also care about, we have to make it publicly clear that Mr. Trump's racial and religious bigotry and treatment of women is morally unacceptable to us as evangelical Christians."
The petition is called "A Declaration by American Evangelicals Concerning Donald Trump."
The multicultural group of leaders include Noel Castellanos of the Christian Community Development Association, Jim Wallis of Sojourners magazine, Gary Vanderpol of Denver Seminary, Soong-Chan Rah of North Park Theological Seminary in Chicago, and Barbara Williams Skinner of the Skinner Leadership Institute in Maryland.
"This is not a usual election," the declaration began. "Many of us believe our Christian discipleship is at stake in the ways we respond.
"There is a grassroots effort under way to demonstrate evangelical solidarity around values we hold so dear," the leaders said.
It also slams the media for painting evangelical voters as "mostly white, politically conservative, older men.
"We are not those evangelicals.
"The media's narrow labels of our community perpetuate stereotypes, ignore our diversity, and fail to accurately represent views expressed by the full body of evangelical Christians."
The leaders defined evangelicals as "Americans of African and European descent, Latinos, Asian American, and Native Americans.
"We are women and men, as well as younger and older evangelical Christians," they said. "We come from a wide range of denominations, churches, and political orientations."