Ben Carson, the Republican
neurosurgeon who wants to be President, recently said that a Muslim should not
be our President. The divisions in the American body politic immediately
announced themselves. That remark was widely criticized
as being prejudiced, discriminatory and insulting against Muslims. Money
poured into his campaign from those who support him.
On NBC’s Meet
the Press on September 20, Carson laid out a general principle that certain
religions need extra scrutiny. Chuck Todd asked, “Should a President’s faith
matter? Should your faith matter to voters?” Carson replied, “Well, I guess it
depends on what that faith is. If it’s inconsistent with the values and
principles of America, then of course it should matter. But if it fits within
the realm of America and consistent with the constitution, no problem.”
Carson then used that
principle to exclude Islam as he understands it. Todd asked, “So do you believe
that Islam is consistent with the constitution?” Carson said, “No, I don’t, I
do not. I would not advocate that we put a Muslim in charge of this nation. I
absolutely would not agree with that.”
Last week in Cedarville,
Ohio, he repeated
his principle: “Who should be
allowed to be President of the United States. And I said I think anybody,
regardless of their religion, if they are willing to embrace the values and
principles of America and our Constitution and subject their beliefs to the
Constitution. I have no problem with that at all. And that's perfectly
reasonable.”
This Sunday, he
specified what is wrong with Islam: “I would have problems with somebody
who embraced all the doctrines associated with Islam. If they are not willing
to reject Sharia and all the portions of it that are talked about in the Quran,
if they are not willing to reject that, and subject that to American values and
the Constitution, then of course, I would. If you are not willing to reject
that, then how in the world can you possibly be the president of the United
States?”
He told ABC that Muslims
should rewrite
their sacred text: “What I would like for somebody to show me is an
improved Islamic text that opposes Shariah.
Let me see -- if you can show me that, I will begin to alter my thinking
on this. But right now, when you have
something that is against the rights of women, against the rights of gays,
subjugates other religions, and a host of things that are not compatible with
our Constitution, why, in fact, would you take that chance?”
I agree with Carson that if
someone’s beliefs contradict our Constitution, they should not be President. And
I agree that some Muslim religious interpretations contradict our Constitution.
The trouble is that Carson applies his tests of religious suitability only to
Islam. He does not advocate that a Christian specifically renounce the Biblical
passages which violate our Constitution, such as approving discussions of
slavery and of stoning women accused of adultery.
Dr. Carson does not advocate
that Mike Huckabee drop out of the presidential race because he supported Kim
Davis in Kentucky, when she placed her religious beliefs against the rights of
gays above her sworn Constitution responsibilities.
Ben Carson is a Seventh Day
Adventist. On their own website,
they hold up “the Bible as the only standard of faith and practice for
Christians.” If Seventh Day Adventists assert that the Bible is the only
standard of practice, shouldn’t Seventh Day Adventists who want our votes be clear
that they “subjugate their religious beliefs to our constitution”?
If Carson thinks Islam is
unacceptable because it is “against the rights of gays”, then I ask him to
reject the Seventh
Day Adventist teaching that “Homosexuality is a manifestation of the
disturbance and brokenness in human inclinations and relations caused by the
entrance of sin into the world.”
On Thursday, he
told Bill O’Reilly, “When I look at Islamic nations, what I see are people
who don't give women equal rights.” What about the controversy among Seventh
Day Adventists about whether women should be ordained? At the General
Conference in July this issue came up again, and was rejected
again, as it has been for more than a century. Should Carson renounce his
own religion’s discrimination against women in order to be a candidate?
His claim that Islam fails
his Constitutional tests resonates with Christian fundamentalists who would
never accept those tests being applied to their own faith. Nor would they
appreciate the suggestion that the Bible be rewritten to remove offensive
passages. Carson finds support among people who are ignorant of the many
varieties of Islam, as many as there of Christianity, ignorant of the Quran as
a source of Muslim belief, ignorant of the long history of Islam in America as a
native African American religious movement.
As Kareem Abdu-Jabbar, who converted
to Islam in 1971, said,
“People do not condemn all Christians for the acts of the group that calls
themselves the Christian Knights or the Ku Klux Klan. I don’t think that Mr.
Carson has any idea, or knows very many Muslims, because if he did he wouldn’t
say the things that he’s saying.”
Steve Hochstadt
Jacksonville IL
Published by the Jacksonville
Journal-Courier, September 29, 2015
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