Ben Carson: Muslims can be president if they denounce Islam
Ben Carson appeared on Fox News' Hannity Monday night in an attempt to address the uproar from his previous controversial remarks ...
Ben Carson appeared on Fox News’ Hannity Monday night in an attempt to address the uproar from his previous controversial remarks, in which he suggested that a Muslim could not and should not be the president.
The controversy started on Sunday when Carson joined MSNBC’s Meet The Press and said, “I would not advocate that we put a Muslim in charge of this nation.”
Carson tried to explain to host Sean Hannity, “We do not put people at the leadership of our country whose faith might interfere with them carrying out the duties of the Constitution.” He then insisted that this rule applied to every religion but that it was especially true of Islam.
Carson added a Muslim candidate, who denounces his or her religion, could get his support.
“I stand by the comments,” Carson said. “What we have to recognize is that this is America, and we have a constitution and we don’t put people at the leadership of our country whose faith will interfere with the carrying out the duties of the constitution. So if, for instance, you believe in a theocracy, I don’t care if you’re a Christian. If you’re a Christian and you’re running for president and you want to make us into a theocracy, I’m not going to support you.”
He went on to say that a Muslim candidate would have to become a “heretic” to their faith because they would have to reject the more controversial parts of their religion in order to better mesh with the American way.
Hannity tried to get him to clarify when he asked, “Did you mean to say radical Islamist?” Carson said, “That was implied.”
The segment ended with Hannity declaring “the controversy is over.”
