ABC “This Week” guest host Martha Raddatz grilled Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson Sunday on comments he made about Muslims last week during an appearance on “Meet the Press.”
“The question was,” Raddatz said, “‘So do you believe that Islam is consistent with the Constitution,’ and you said ‘no, I do not. I would not advocate that we put a Muslim in charge of this nation. I absolutely would not agree with that.’
“Do you stand by that now?” she asked.
Carson said that his comments were on a transcript.
“I’m reading the transcript, Dr. Carson. That’s exactly what you said,” Raddatz replied.
“No — read the paragraph before that where I said anybody, doesn’t matter what their religious background, if they accept American values and principles and are willing to subjugate their religious beliefs to our Constitution. I have no problem with them,” Carson said. “Why do you guys always leave that part out, I wonder?”
Raddatz said she didn’t think anyone did leave that part out, noting that his answer was “quite clear.”
“You also talked about sharia law, that they must denounce sharia law,” Raddatz said. “You assume that all Muslims embrace sharia law?”
Carson gave a long answer before the host ultimately cut him off.
“Well, let’s — what we should be talking about is Islam and the tenets of Islam and where do they come from? They come from sharia. They come the Koran. They come from, you know, the life works and examples of Mohammed,” Carson said. “They come from the fatwas, which is the writings of scholars. You know, and if you go back and you look at — what I would like for somebody to show me is an improved Islamic text that opposes sharia. Let me see — if you can show me that, I will begin to alter my thinking on this. But right now, when you have something that is against the rights of women, against the rights of gays, subjugates other religions, and a host of things that are not compatible with our Constitution, why in fact would you take that chance?”
