Moore, who said Muslim shouldn’t serve, now opposes ‘religious test’

GOP Senate candidate Roy Moore is knocking the media’s coverage of him, saying he doesn’t “hate people” and doesn’t support a religious test for public officials.

“There should be no religious test, no. That’s against the Constitution,” Moore told reporters as he walked through the Senate basement on Tuesday. 

Moore, who is a former judge, has made a slew of controversial statements, including suggesting in 2006 that Keith Ellison, the first Muslim elected to the House, shouldn’t be allowed to serve because of his religious beliefs.

{mosads}On Tuesday, he said that he wished the media “would print me as I am.” 

“Well I’m a lot different than what The Washington Post has been printing,” he told a Post reporter. “I don’t hate people.”

He noted that the Post endorsed his Democratic opponent, Doug Jones. 

Moore, who is running for the Alabama Senate seat after defeating Sen. Luther Strange (Ala.) in the GOP primary, is attending the closed-door Senate GOP caucus lunch.

It will mark the first time Moore has met with the entire Senate GOP caucus. 

He appeared surprised to be surrounded by reporters as he walked through the basement, at one point asking a staff member if everyone following him was a reporter.