Just curious, how big is the religious community that would vote for him? From what I can see, he is idolized in a lot of communities.
Another problem with Carson is his antiquated and ignorant view of homosexuality, claiming it is a choice and that he knows this, in part, from how people in prison turn to gay sexual acts. I don't know how he expects to get elected in a general election with that brand of stupidity. Sexual orientation is not an act, it's an involuntary sexual attraction. I would be a heterosexual male even if I never had sex the rest of my life, or even if I never had sex once. Involuntary sexual attraction is not a choice, but the religious right like Carson are brainwashed into staying ignorant, boiling things down simplistically into sin or immoral choices. So to me, especially if you include his hypocritical islam comments, he is an embodiment of promoting ignorance, and retarding progress.
Maybe the reason Carson has been surging in the polls is because evangelicals have flocking to his side. A poll however showed that at least 25% of people would not vote for him because of his religion. Since few people will be voting for any candidate because of their religion the few who vote for Carson because he's an evangelical Christian wouldn't get him where he wants to be.
I agree that his stating that homosexuality is a "choice", etc was dumb. But his comments on islam taken in full context are not what the MSM is trying to claim they were. He stated that he would not want a theocracy - not a Christian, Muslim, or any other theocracy. He clearly stated that anyone who was unable to subvert their religious beliefs in favor of the Constitution and US laws and customs would not be a suitable president - and he's right. Anyone who would want Sharia law here has no business holding such a high office.
Despite all the criticism leveled at him, Carson is still surging. http://news.investors.com/ibd-edito...-trump-trails-ben-carson-in-ibd-tipp-poll.htm The bad news for all of them though is the approval ratings of other candidates is rising. So maybe in a few weeks someone else might seize their place.
Or any office at all. Sharia law is plain... stupid, just like the Old Testament. We are in 2015!!! The old religious laws, especially the ones prone to violence, rape, genocide, shouldn't exist anymore, no matter of the religion they're associated with. A lot of Christians think that Christianity is the best religion, but only if you ignore the Old Testament. But you can't just choose what parts of the religion you want to follow, can you? Either you accept everything about it, either you just let it go and act according to the laws of common sense.
There is no religious test for office, so a Muslim can run and win. However, there is a wall of separation between church and state that cannot be violated, and Sharia would be an egregious violation of that. Concerning his comments regarding homosexuality. Well, indeed, they were problematic. However, the scientific community holds that it is a combination of factors. Dr. Francis Collins, the leader in the Human Genome Project, director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), etc. has stated: "An area of particularly strong public interest is the genetic basis of homosexuality. Evidence from twin studies does in fact support the conclusion that heritable factors play a role in male homosexuality. However, the likelihood that the identical twin of a homosexual male will also be gay is about 20% (compared with 2-4 percent of males in the general population), indicating that sexual orientation is genetically influenced but not hardwired by DNA, and that whatever genes are involved represent predispositions, not predeterminations." So, maybe, Dr. Carson was making a reference to the latest scientific data on the subject. Or maybe he just made a stupid comment.
I'm not an expert on the subject of homosexuality, but I think such comments are politically ill-advised. Every homosexual I've ever heard talk about their sexuality claims that they didn't choose to have the desires they do, and many say that if they could choose to turn it off and be hetero, they'd do so - that their lives would be easier. Also, it has been said by some that there are many people who are to one degree or another bisexual ("somewhere in the middle") who don't realize it or won't admit it. That many/most of us are either 100% straight or gay, but that some people may be predominantly one or the other, but who also have the other tendencies to a lesser degree. I spent several years in the military as a young man with raging hormones, and some of that time was spent in close quarters to other males for extended periods of time, with little or no exposure to female companionship for many weeks or longer at times. I never, ever had the slightest urge or though about "crossing over" or "experimenting" even once - there's never been anything remotely sexually appealing to me about another male. I would guess that his talking about males going into prison hetero and sometimes coming out no longer completely hetero probably proves the point - I think that any male who goes in having never had any experiences other than hetero who eventually decides to WILLINGLY "cross over" while incarcerated had at least some degree of latent or repressed bisexual tendencies before going in the pen.
Just wanted to say one more thing: what if Ben Carson understands homosexuality as it is but prefers to claim that he doesn't understand it, nor supports it, just to get some votes from the religious people and from the people who don't accept the gay LBGT community? He was at some point the number one neurosurgeon in the world, he can't be that dumb to make stupid affirmations IMHO.
He has beliefs and when you hold certain beliefs you don't question them. You believe them because you are expected to. Anyway, I believe that since politicians want certain groups of people to support them they'll say anything they think will get them that group's support. So if saying some dumb things will get him votes from religious folks, he'll say what needs to be said.
