The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a group that advocates for the spread of Islam, is calling on Ben Carson to withdraw from the presidential election for stating that Islam is “inconsistent” with the Constitution.
“I would not advocate that we put a Muslim in charge of this nation,” Carson said on Sunday’s Meet The Press. Islam, Carson explained, is “inconsistent with the values of America” and the U.S. Constitution.
Polling data indicates that Carson’s point is not without merit. According to the Pew Research Center, a majority of Muslims throughout South Asia, sub-Saharan African, the Middle East and North Africa favor “making Sharia the official law of the land.” Earlier this year, filmmaker Ami Horowitz interviewed Muslim residents of the Cedar Riverside section of Minneapolis, many of whom said that they would prefer to live under Sharia law.
One boy who was interviewed explained that he would rather live under Sharia law because it would promote safer communities: “Sharia law, it says that if you steal something, they cut off your hand,” the boy explained. “So, basically, [people] can leave their doors open. Nobody’s going to steal anything because Sharia is so tight.”
By definition, Sharia law contradicts the Constitution, which guarantees freedom of religion and freedom of speech
Moreover, the natural-born-citizen clause of the Constitution would bar the vast majority of adult Muslim-U.S. residents from serving as commander-in-chief, according to 2011 data from Pew Research Center. Because only about a one third of the U.S. Muslim adult population was born in the United States, 63 percent of adult U.S. Muslims would be ineligible to serve as President.
In essence, the Founding Fathers were worried that even a British-born diplomat might be too foreign to run the country. Carson is suggesting the same may be true of a Sharia-compliant son of Somali refugees.
CAIR had similarly strong words for GOP frontrunner Donald Trump because Trump refused to forcibly silence and embarrass a supporter who asked Trump how he plans to combat terrorist training camps in the United States.
The billionaire’s refusal to publicly berate the blue-collar questioner John-McCain-style, “sent the message that Islamophobia is acceptable,” declared CAIR Government Affairs Manager, Robert McCaw.
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