Dr. Carson, the Constitution and the Media

Republican presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson has reaffirmed his view that a Moslem should not be President of the United States. Carson started a media firestorm on Sunday when he told Chuck Todd on Meet the Press that he “would not advocate that we put a Moslem in charge of this nation.” Later, Carson told The Hill : "I do not believe Sharia is consistent with the Constitution of this country. Moslems 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.” Carson also mentioned "Taqiya," a practice in Shia Islam in which a Moslem apparently can mislead nonbelievers about the nature of their faith to avoid persecution : “Taqiya is a component of Shia that allows, and even encourages you to lie to achieve your goals.” In his own defense, Carson said he is one of the few presidential candidates willing to tell hard truths. Carson said : "We are a different kind of nation. 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 now is we’re so busy trying to be politically correct (PC), that we lose all perspective.” Carson described Todd's question of a Moslem President asked to all GOP presidential hopefuls who appear on his show as possibly being gotcha journalism meant to trip them up. But, he said the question “served a useful purpose by providing the opportunity to talk about what Sharia is and what their goals are.” ~~~~~ So far, there has been no media discussion of Sharia or Taqiya. But there has been abundant media and candidate misinformation blaming Carson for not understanding the US Constitution, Article VI, Clause 3 : "The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States." Since Sunday, everyone has attacked Carson using Clause 3, twisting it to mean that the religion of American political candidates cannot be discussed. ~~~~~ This is wrong. Candidate religious views can be discussed. Clause 3 means that local, state or federal government cannot make the practice or non-practice of religion a part of what qualifies or disqualifies an American from running for any office. It also forbids any oath of office that requires or forbids an elected officeholder to swear to adhere to and/or support any religion. Clause 3 was written to prevent in America an 18th century England practice -- that all officeholders and the monarch had to be Anglican and take an oath to support the Anglican Church when being sworn in - still required of the British monarch. ~~~~~ Dear readers, I think Dr. Carson was thinking about the First Amendment separation of church and state -- if a candidate for office cannot separate his or her religion from politics, (s)he should not hold office. But, his detractors missed that and are talking about Clause 3's interdiction of religious tests as a qualification for office. Carson's comments are about whether Moslem dogma on society and religion creates religious obligations that may make Moslems unable to separate the duties of President under the Constitution from their religious duties. In 1960, when critics said his duties as a Catholic could interfere with his presidential obligations, John Kennedy said he couldn't see that happening, but that if it did, he would resign. The debate Dr. Carson has begun is about the religious qualities Americans want in their President and about the First Amendment separation of church and state. A debate about the Clause 3 interdiction of state religious tests for officeholders is not useful - it's settled law. But, First Amendment political issues should not be cut off by media PC constitutional worries.