Ben Carson has done so poorly in the US primary elections thus far and his standings in the polls are so low in upcoming electoral states that he has zero chance of becoming president or winning the Republican Party nomination. Lack of chops on national security and foreign policy issues have pulled him down in the race for the White House after a brief flirtation with the lead in the autumn of last year. But his calm demeanor and his inspirational life story, from the ghettoes to one of the world’s top neurosurgeons, has attracted legions of supporters who hold him in high esteem. This is why what he said about Muslims the other day, and in past speeches, meets with the approval of so many other Americans.
On a recent talk show, Carson was asked if American Muslims can embrace their nation’s political values. “Only if they’re schizophrenic,” Carson said. “I don’t see how they can do it otherwise, because you have two different philosophies.”
It’s not the first time Carson has made an ignorant comment about Muslim Americans. In October, he stated his opposition to the possibility of a Muslim American presidential candidate due to their “different loyalties,” a comment that built on his assertion a month prior that Islam is inconsistent with the US Constitution, and that a Muslim should only be president if he or she “renounces the tenets of Islam”.
It is possible to walk and chew gum at the same time. There are tens of thousands of Muslims in the US who love American values and their religion at the same time. American Muslims can adhere to Islam while also embracing the American values of democracy. The two loyalties are in conflict only if an individual wants it to be so. As in any society, there are the good and the bad. People have the option of choosing what agrees with their religion and throwing out the rest.
Carson has helped promote and sustain frighteningly high levels of anti-Muslim sentiment. What is even more frightening is that Carson’s anti-Muslim intolerance has advanced his polling numbers and dramatically increased his campaign fund-raising.
Misconceptions and blatant ignorance about Muslim Americans abound. Under Carson’s religious segregation – and not to forget Donald Trump who has demanded a complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States - some Americans appear to have forgotten the First Amendment’s fundamental religious freedom guarantee, and likewise Article VI of the Constitution, which forbids religious tests for any government office. Like their racial segregationist predecessors, Carson and Trump are demonstrating that the Constitution is suddenly meaningless.
After the 9/11 attacks, when then president George W. Bush visited a Washington mosque and said “Islam is peace”, public opinion of the faith actually improved. But when President Obama recently visited a US mosque, the leading Republican candidates jumped on him not just for what they perceive as weakness against terrorism, but for opposing anti-Muslim prejudice, even though Obama could not have been clearer in his distinction between radicalism, which must be rooted out, and peaceful Muslims, who should be treated fairly. The absence of such calls on the present Republican stage has created a clear path for candidates who oppose Islam.
In the wake of the terrorist attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, US public anxiety is running high, and Republican primary polls show a strong appetite for anti-Muslim policies. By fomenting this anti-Muslim rhetoric, Carson and Trump are promoting a disturbing form of religious segregation. Just as racial segregationists long garnered votes by promoting fear of black Americans, religious segregationists such as Carson and Trump today collect votes by promoting fear of Muslim Americans.
