Christian group launching ads charging Trump ‘used Christianity for his own purposes’

A bipartisan coalition of Christians is forming a political action committee that aims to weaken President Trump’s standing with evangelical voters.

The super PAC, Not Our Faith, plans a six-figure ad buy targeting evangelical and Catholic voters in Pennsylvania and Michigan, The Associated Press reported.

The ad accuses the president of exploiting Christian rhetoric and iconography for self-serving purposes, specifically citing his photo opportunity outside of St. John’s Episcopal Church earlier this year after police cleared Lafayette Square with tear gas and pepper spray.

“[Christians] don’t need Trump to save them. The truth is that Trump needs Christians to save his flailing campaign,” the ad states, according to the AP.

The group’s advisory council includes onetime Obama administration faith adviser Michael Wear and Autumn VandeHei, who worked as an aide to former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas). Other members include former Catholic Relief Services CEO Carolyn Y. Woo as well as the Rev. Alvin Love, who serves as the National Baptist Convention’s chairman of faith-based initiatives.

“Trump eked out 2016 with unprecedented support from white evangelicals and, important to note, a really strong showing among Catholics. We’re going after all of it,” Wear told the AP. “We think Christian support is on the table in this election.”

Trump has worked to shore up his support among religious voters ahead of the election, baselessly claiming Democratic nominee Joe Biden, a practicing Catholic, would “hurt God” as president.

White evangelical voters remain one of the demographics most supportive of the president, with 72 percent approving of his performance as president in a survey after the St. John’s photo op. Wear, however, said that the diversity of Christians in the U.S. offers ample opportunity for outreach.

The super PAC aims “to reach and appeal to a diverse coalition of Christians … just as we anticipate a diverse coalition of Christians will oppose Donald Trump’s reelection,” he said.