Carson stands by 'no Muslim in White House' remarks
Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson has defended his controversial statement that no Muslim should ever occupy the White House.
In an interview with The Hill newspaper on Sunday, Carson said that whoever wins the presidential elections should be “sworn in on a stack of Bibles, not a Qur’an.”
“I do not believe Sharia is consistent with the Constitution of this country,” the GOP candidate said.
“Muslims feel that their religion is very much a part of your public life and what you do as a public official, and that’s inconsistent with our principles and our constitution,” the retired neurosurgeon added.
In an interview with NBC News broadcast earlier in the day, Carson said he “would not advocate that we put a Muslim in charge of this nation,” adding that Islam -- a religion followed by some 3 million Americans -- is not consistent with American values and the US Constitution.
Pushing back against the outrage made by his remarks, Carson told The Hill that he was one of the few candidates running for president willing to tell the hard truths.
“We are a different kind of nation,” he said. “Part of why we rose so quickly is because we wouldn’t allow our values or principles to be supplanted because we were going to be politically correct… part of the problem today is that we’re so busy trying to be politically correct, that we lose all perspective.”
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the largest Muslim civil rights advocacy organization in the US, condemned Carson’s remarks, and said he should withdraw from the presidential race.
Carson's campaign spokesman Doug Watts, however, said there was a "huge gulf" between the Muslim faith and "American values."
"He did not say that a Muslim should be prevented from running, or barred from running in any way," Watts said. "He (Carson) just doesn't believe the American people are ready for that."
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