Carson and hot potatoe questions

[Plane]

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/gop-candidate-carson-muslim-shouldnt-be-elected-president/ar-AAex7i2


   Gotcha .

    Carson was asked if a Muslim should be president , and his answer was negative , and not nuanced enough.

     I agree with him , but making a religious test for this office , as well as any other in government , is strictly prohibited.

       This is how it should be , it is important that there be no constitutional requirement or regulation against any religion taking any office.

       But the people of the USA should never trust a Muslim with that sort of power, even though it is important that they be allowed to make this choice themselves.

      This will all be reversed if the majority of Americans becomes Muslim, that would be different.

[Xavier_Onassis]

A majority of Americans will never become Muslims, just as a majority have never become Mormons, Evangelicals or Catholics.

If I were Carson, I would have said that I thought that a Muslim would never likely be elected president and leave it at that. The people decide who gets to be president, not prospective nominees. The question is not germane to his nomination. Carson is concentrating on HIS becoming president. No president can choose his successor, and Carson has only one vote, like everyone else. Thios is the sort of question that provokes controversy and probably not favorable controversy.

I mean, Carson is not an expert on Islam, and information on Islam is always slanted one way or another.

If a Muslim were to run for president and said I should vote for him because he was a devout Muslim, I would not.

[Plane]

  How different is this from President Kennedy being a Catholic?

  Or Mitt Romney being LDS?

[Xavier_Onassis]

I would not vote for anyone solely because they were Catholic or LDS.
JFK's religion did not seem to have anything to do with his actions as president.
We do not know what Romney's religion might have influenced.Probably not much.
There are surely Muslims whose religion would not impact their decisions.

Carson could have been more vague.

I do not see where this would affect his possible nomination: his chances are slim to none.

[Plane]

Carson could have been more vague.

Yes , a more professional politician would have been loth to give up the votes that this might have cost him, and for this and many other subjects he might have composed a meaningless answer.

I do not see where this would affect his possible nomination: his chances are slim to none.

His popularity isn't as hurt by a fauxpas as a more professional politician's would be. That he is willing to give a real answer is impolitic , but charming. Haven't we had enough very professional politicians that give us only their laundered thoughts?

[Xavier_Onassis]

I agree that most of those who support Carson will not abandon him for saying that he does not want a Muslim president.

The truth is that he has no real say in this, unless he plans to choose a Muslim VP running mate and anticipates dying in office.


Carson's objective, however, at this stage is not just to hang on to the 10-12% of th GOP that likes him better than Trump, but to attract many more voters.His statement pissed off at least some Muslims, but I do not know whether that would gain or lose votes. I do not see Muslims likely to vote for any Republican.

Carson is a Seventh Day Adventist, and unlike most scientists claims he does not believe in evolution.

] In a 2006 debate with Richard Dawkins, Francis Collins, and Daniel Dennett, Carson stated: "I don't believe in evolution...I simply don't have enough faith to believe that something as complex as our ability to rationalize, think, and plan, and have a moral sense of what's right and wrong, just appeared."[66] In 2012, nearly 500 professors, students, and alumni of Emory University wrote a letter expressing concern about his views in advance of his commencement speech. They cited a quote in an interview with the Adventist Review: "By believing we are the product of random acts, we eliminate morality and the basis of ethical behavior."[67] Carson clarified:

    "Those of us who believe in God and derive our sense of right and wrong and ethics from God's word really have no difficulty whatsoever defining where our ethics come from. People who believe in survival of the fittest might have more difficulty deriving where their ethics come from. A lot of evolutionists are very ethical people."[65]

I would think that a doctor who deals with the random acts of  chromosomes gone berserk would not believe in some sort of mystical Divine Plan.

I would not vote against him on those grounds, but he wants a Flat Tax and is against changes in marijuana laws, so I will not vote for him.

 

[Plane]

I would not vote against him on those grounds, but he wants a Flat Tax and is against changes in marijuana laws, so I will not vote for him.

I am content.

You have thought it through and made some effort to be fair, what more could I ask?

I would think that a doctor who deals with the random acts of  chromosomes gone berserk would not believe in some sort of mystical Divine Plan.

Things go wrong , Job and Solomon agreed on this , things seem to go wrong often enough for us to appreciate how well they usually work.
 

In 2012, nearly 500 professors, students, and alumni of Emory University wrote a letter expressing concern about his views in advance of his commencement speech. They cited a quote in an interview with the Adventist Review: "By believing we are the product of random acts, we eliminate morality and the basis of ethical behavior."[67] Carson clarified:

    "Those of us who believe in God and derive our sense of right and wrong and ethics from God's word really have no difficulty whatsoever defining where our ethics come from. People who believe in survival of the fittest might have more difficulty deriving where their ethics come from. A lot of evolutionists are very ethical people."[65]

What an awful show of intolerance , I hope they do not hold this against Jimmy Carter , President Carter is getting a lot of therapy from Emery now.

I think that Dr. Carson is pointing out that a Christian has a standard of behavior to keep or at least to aspire to, does a person without such a standard have to find or invent one?

[Xavier_Onassis]

I think that many religious people simply attribute their moral standards to their religion.

The basic principle is not to do anything to another you would not like done to yourself by another.

There are a lot of rather reprehensible heroes in the Bible that were not anything anyone would call role models, that are nonetheless revered.

Carson is now saying that he was quoted out of context, but really, he wasn't. And he did not have to make the statement that he would not vote for a Muslim.

Negative statements others will find offensive should be avoided one is running for office.

Most people claim to belong to whatever religion they were brought up in, and eventually many outgrow it and never feel a need to find another religion.

I am sure there are many Muslims that fit that pattern. Most do not go to the Mosque or pray five times every day, I am told.They say something like "well, there are people in villages that do that, but not in the city."

[Christians4LessGvt]

Gotcha

No it's not.
Plane you fall easy prey to the lame-stream media carefully structured headlines and biased storylines
Can you not call BULLSHIT when you see it?

Carson was asked if a Muslim should be president , and his answer was negative , and not nuanced enough.
I agree with him , but making a religious test for this office , as well as any other in government , is strictly prohibited.
it is important that there be no constitutional requirement or regulation against any religion taking any office.

Where did Dr. Carson state there should be a law, "religious test" or any prohibition on a Muzzy being President?
Dr. Carson stated he did not believe a Muslim should be President.
Can he not have a personal opinion? Can he not have an opinion many agree with?
It is not "strictly prohibited" for an individual to not want or not vote for a Muzzy for President....it's a free country!

If religious litmus tests are really off limits to decency...
why doesn't Meet The Press ask Hillary, Biden, or XO...if a fundamentalist Christian should be President?

[Xavier_Onassis]

Whether or not person x or y should or should not be president is not the real issue.

The real issue, oversimplified, is whether you would vote for person x or person y based on his/her religion.
But as I said, that is simplified. I am not voting for a Catholic a Presbyterian or a Muslim I am voting for a specific person who happens to belong to this or that religion.
I had no problems voting for Jimmy Carter twice.  He was perhaps too trusting because of his religion. But Ford was a dummy and Reagan was an actor who said some vile things as governor, and Carter had both of them beat.

[Plane]

The basic principle is not to do anything to another you would not like done to yourself by another.

You mean that the non religious can borrow this without attribution?

[Xavier_Onassis]

Attribution to whom?  Buddha? I am sure he would not mind.

[Plane]

Attribution to whom?  Buddha? I am sure he would not mind.

 Buddha works fine.

  He has a workable version of the golden rule , and a logical set of ethical standards.

   I don't see  Buddha objecting if a perfectly secular person were to adopt some of these precepts, his attitude is probably , more is merrier..
 
  I object if there is a pretense that these ideas are either universal , instinctive or self developed.

[Plane]

 Michael,

 If you've been following the latest "controversy" over my comments about Islam, you know the arrows are out for me.

I will need your help to push back, but I want you to know exactly where I stand. These are my beliefs and I will not back down:

 Many parts of Sharia Law are not compatible with the U.S. Constitution. Under Sharia, homosexuals -- men and women alike -- must be killed. Women must be subservient. And people following other religions must be killed as well.

 There are many peaceful Muslims who do not adhere to these beliefs. But until these tenets are fully renounced I cannot advocate any Muslim candidate for President.

 I also can't advocate supporting Hillary Clinton for President by the way.

 Because I shared my honest opinion, I've come under intense fire from the media, nearly every leading Democrat, and even some of my Republican peers.

 The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has called for me to drop out of the presidential race, saying I am "unfit to lead."

I will not back down -- but I need your help to push back right now.

 Too many Americans have been persuaded to follow the Far Left's political correctness (PC) speech code, believing that if only we are extra careful to not offend anyone, we will achieve unity. This would not be unity -- it would be paralysis.

Political correctness run amok is preventing us from speaking honestly about our challenges, our differences and our culture. It's dangerous and I will not abide by it.

 I'm not a politician with my finger in the wind, and running for President was not on my bucket list. So I'm not going to say whatever I need to say to get elected.

 I am going to speak the truth as I know it, and do what I believe is right and just -- even if it makes some uncomfortable.

 I believe deeply in every word of the U.S. Constitution and the Judeo-Christian values that form its foundation. As your President I would swear to preserve, protect and defend it.

 The Far Left and even some of my Republican peers are trying to use this episode as a way to bring down my candidacy, but together we can emerge stronger than ever.

Please stand in support of our shared values and help me show the power of "We the People" by making a donation now.

 Thank you for your time, your support, and your dedication to creating a better American future for the next generation.

 Sincerely,

 Ben Carson

https://www.bencarson.com/landing/bd/page-hf?sc=epl09232015

[Plane]

  What if a candidate were asked whether there should be a Communist President?

  Is Sharia law less a problem than Communism?