Pastors distance themselves from Moore amid growing scandal

At least three pastors are asking Roy Moore’s Senate campaign to remove their names from a letter of support posted Sunday on the personal Facebook page of Moore’s wife. Kayla Moore posted the letter amid the growing scandal over accusations from five women that Moore pursued them when they were teenagers and he was a deputy district attorney in his early 30s. One accuser, Leigh Corfman, told The Washington Post in a story published Thursday she was 14 years old when Moore took her to his home, gave her alcohol, and kissed her on one occasion and undressed and inappropriately touched her on a second visit. Another woman, Beverly Young Nelson, came forward Monday to accuse Moore of sexual abuse. The letter of support, supposedly signed by 50 Alabama pastors, calls Moore an “immovable rock in the culture wars.” Moore’s campaign originally released the letter earlier this year, and two pastors said no one checked with them recently to see if they still supported him. Tijuanna Adetunji of the Fresh Anointing House of Worship in Montgomery, Ala., said she didn’t give permission to have her name used, and Thad Endicott of Heritage Baptist Church in Opelika, Ala., said he no longer supported Moore. George Grant, pastor of Parish Presbyterian Church in Franklin, Tenn., said no one asked him to sign the letter and insisted as a Tennessean he had no desire for involvement in Alabama politics. Moore is the Republican nominee in a Dec. 12 special election in Alabama to fill the U.S. Senate seat vacated when President Donald Trump appointed former Sen. Jeff Sessions as U.S. attorney general. Sessions on Tuesday said he had no reason to doubt Moore’s accusers. Earlier Tuesday, House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., became the latest Republican leader to urge Moore to drop out of the race.

Editor’s note: This article was edited to reflect that Roy Moore was deputy district attorney in Etowah County, Ala., from 1977 to 1982.