A group of more than 75 evangelical leaders said that they do not support Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump because of his "racial and religious bigotry."
The group, which includes African-American, Asian, Hispanic and white evangelical Christians, said that polls and headlines are overlooking non-white evangelicals, according to a Change.org declaration.
The Christian command to "love your neighbors as yourself" led the group to reject Trump.
"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 declaration charged Trump with fueling racism.
"We believe that racism strikes at the heart of the gospel; we believe that racial justice and reconciliation is at the core of the message of Jesus," the group wrote. "We believe the candidacy of Trump has given voice to a movement that affirms racist elements in white culture—both explicit and implicit.
"Racism is America's original sin. Its brazen use to win elections threatens to reverse real progress on racial equity and set America back," the group's declaration said.
Trump has denigrated non-whites, and "uses fear to demonize and degrade immigrants, foreigners, and people from different racial, ethnic, and religious backgrounds."
The group said its focus is rebuking Trump, not favoring his Democratic presidential opponent, Hillary Clinton.
"Hillary Clinton is both supported and distrusted by a variety of Christian voters. We, undersigned evangelicals, simply will not tolerate the racial, religious, and gender bigotry that Donald Trump has consistently and deliberately fueled, no matter how else we choose to vote or not to vote," the group said.
The 2016 election is a turning point for the nation, according to the group.
"We see this election as a significant teachable moment for our churches and our nation to bring about long-needed repentance from our racial sin."
Trump may not be an ideal Christian representative, but some leaders say God chose him.
"Throughout the Bible and church history, God has used unrighteous people to be his rod of righteousness to his people," according to Dan Celia on the Christian network American Family Radio.
Non-whites are a growing segment of evangelical Christianity, and make up around one-fourth of evangelical Protestants in the U.S., according to a 2015 study.
Non-white evangelicals may face an uphill battle to voice their opinions: A Public Religion Research Institute poll showed that 69 percent of white evangelical Protestants support Trump, while 19 percent of them support Clinton.
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