Joe Biden says it is "shameful", and "beneath the office he holds" for Donald Trump to claim the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee would "hurt God" if he were elected US president.

Earlier this week Mr Trump claimed Mr Biden was "against God", despite Mr Biden frequently discussing how his Catholic faith has guided his actions as a public official.

"He's following the radical left agenda: take away your guns, destroy your second amendment, no religion, no anything, hurt the Bible, hurt God," Mr Trump said.

"He's against God."

After the address Mr Trump went on to deliver a campaign-style speech at a factory in nearby Clyde, Ohio. He did not explain further what he meant.

With Mr Trump trailing Mr Biden in four recent polls in Ohio, the US President is fighting to win voters in the traditional swing state as the coronavirus pandemic threatens his chances of a second term.

Mr Trump's accusation could solidify support from his party's sizable conservative Christian bloc and also damage voters' view of Mr Biden, the first Catholic vice-president in US history.

John Kennedy was the first and only Catholic elected US president when he won in 1960.

In a statement on Thursday night, Mr Biden said Mr Trump's attack was "shameful" and that faith had been "the bedrock foundation" of his life.

"It's beneath the office he holds and it's beneath the dignity the American people so rightly expect and deserve from their leaders," Mr Biden said in the statement.

"However, like the words of so many other insecure bullies, President Trump's comments reveal more about him than they do about anyone else.

"They show us a man willing to stoop to any low for political gain, and someone whose actions are completely at odds with the values and teachings that he professes to believe in."

More than three-fourths of Americans practise Christianity or another religion, according to non-partisan think tank the Pew Research Centre.

Mr Trump has been hurt politically by his response to the coronavirus pandemic, which has recently killed on average more than 1,000 Americans each day.

While he speaks very little about his own Presbyterian faith and rarely attends church, Mr Trump works closely with evangelical Christians and puts their causes of restricting abortion and preserving gun ownership at the top of his policy agenda.

After a school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut killed 20 children in 2012, Mr Biden pushed for some restrictions on gun ownership, but he has not called for confiscating firearms.

He has said he would seek to ban assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines, let people who own assault weapons sell them back voluntarily, and expand background checks.

The second amendment of the US constitution gives Americans the right to keep and bear arms.

Reuters

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Donald Trump attacked by Joe Biden for 'shameful' comments that he would 'hurt God' if elected - ABC News