Carson Wins This Point

I'm still sorting through all the clowns emerging from the GOP car as part of the 2016 campaign circus. One of them is Dr. Ben Carson, an individual I profoundly respect for his accomplishments, but question his ability to heal a wounded nation and persuade a fractured congress to pass necessary legislation.

He's been in the news lately for his statement that a president's religious beliefs matter, and consequently he believes that no Muslim should be president of the United States. Predictably, the usual suspects on the left went into full 'that's offensive and intolerant' mode. But if one takes a closer look, it appears that the good doctor's position makes a lot of sense. In 2009, Syrian Islamic scholar Abd Al-Karim Bakkar said "Democracy runs counter to Islam on several issues…."

This is self-evident in the fact that Islamic theocracy rules throughout the Islamic world, crushing human rights such as those delineated in our Bill of Rights. In some “secular” states like Turkey and Egypt, democracy is tolerated for Western acceptance, but trying telling a Coptic Christian in Egypt, for example, about the freedom of religion or try imposing a government dictate contrary to Islam, the way ObamaCare imposes on pro-life Christians, on Muslims. Under Islam and Shari Law, there is no freedom of religion or speech and equal rights are forbidden to women and non-Muslims. If you should convert to Christianity, you have signed your death warrant.

Another islamic scholar, Sheikh Abdul Rahman bin Nassir Al Barrak, put it this way.

“Electing a president or another form of leadership or council members is prohibited in Islam as it has been introduced by the enemies of Moslems.” The idea of popular elections, he said, “has been brought by the anti-Islam parties who have occupied Moslem land.”

Dr. Carson is simply echoing what muslims themselves believe: "Islam and democracy are incompatible and Sharia Law is particularly toxic to our way of life and human rights and freedom..."

Frank Gaffney, founder and president of the Center for Security Policy, points out that a president cannot “uphold, defend and support the Constitution of the United States” and adhere to Sharia Law. “It cannot be done. Because Sharia says, ‘No it’s not the Constitution of the United States that must govern. It is God’s law. It is Sharia. It is this repressive totalitarian, misogynistic program that must govern.’”

An October 2010 report from the Center for Security Policy echoes that sentiment.

The report concludes the Shariah system is "totalitarian" and incompatible with the U.S. Constitution, our system of democratic lawmaking and the constitutional guarantees of freedom of conscience, individual liberty and freedom of expression, including the right to criticize Shariah law itself….

It seems to me that Dr. Carson is right on in this instance.