Leaders of religious right balk at labeling Trump a racist

NEW YORK – Many religious leaders have strongly condemned President Donald Trump’s disparaging remarks about minority members of Congress.

Prominent figures on the religious right have not joined in, instead maintaining public silence or insisting that Trump’s tactics reflect hard-nosed politics, not racism.

Dallas megachurch pastor Robert Jeffress says Trump “judges people on whether they support him.”

Evangelical leader Franklin Graham contends the left is misusing the word “racism” as a political weapon.

Debate over Trump’s inflammatory tweets and comments has flared in recent weeks. He told four congresswomen of colour — three of them born in the U.S.–to “go back” where they came from.

He derided the Rev. Al Sharpton and Maryland Congressman Elijah Cummings and called the majority-black city of Baltimore a “rodent-infested mess.”