The president of the United States should not be a Muslim, Republican
presidential candidate Ben Carson declared during an interview airing
Sunday morning. And Islam, a faith professed by some 3 million
Americans, is not constitutional, the retired neurosurgeon said.
At the end of his "Meet the Press" segment with NBC News' Chuck Todd,
Carson responded to a series of questions related to Donald Trump's failure to correct an
audience member at a New Hampshire town hall last Thursday who
suggested in his question that President Barack Obama is a Muslim and
not an American.
Asked whether his faith or the faith of a president should matter, Carson said, "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," he explained,
according to a transcript.
Todd then asked Carson, whose rise in the polls has been powered in
large part by Christian conservatives, if he believed that "Islam is
consistent with the Constitution."
"No, I don't, I do not," he responded, adding, "I would not advocate
that we put a Muslim in charge of this nation. I absolutely would not
agree with that."
But for Carson, the matter of voting for a Muslim for Congress "is a
different story, but it depends on who that Muslim is and what their
policies are, just as it depends on what anybody else says, you know."
"And, you know, if there's somebody who's of any faith, but they say
things, and their life has been consistent with things that will elevate
this nation and make it possible for everybody to succeed, and bring
peace and harmony, then I'm with them," he went on to say.
But Carson believes Obama is both a Christian and born in the United States, adding that he had "no reason to doubt" the president...Todd's question referred to long-running "birther" conspiracy
theories in which some claim the president was born in Kenya and is thus
not a natural-born citizen. Other versions claim that Obama lost his
U.S. citizenship when he lived in Indonesia as a child and may be an
Indonesian citizen instead.
At Thursday's town hall in New Hampshire, an audience member stood up
and asked Trump: "We have a problem in this country, it’s called
Muslims. Our current president is one. We know he’s not even an
American. We have training camps growing where they want to kill us.
That’s my question, when can we get rid of them?”
“A lot of people are saying that and a lot of people are saying that
bad things are happening out there. We’re going to be looking at that
and a lot of different things,” Trump responded.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Democratic front-runner Hillary
Clinton quickly condemned Trump's actions, while most other 2016
contenders remained silent.
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