--- title: Ben Carson Says a Muslim Shouldn't Be President description: GOP presidential candidate Ben Carson said he would not support a Muslim presidential candidate in an interview on Meet the Press Sunday canonical: https://time.com/4041624/ben-carson-muslim-president/ author: Justin Worland article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-09-20T13:59:55.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:41:50.310Z article:section: Politics og:title: Ben Carson Says a Muslim Shouldn't Be President og:description: "I would not advocate that we put a Muslim in charge of this nation" og:url: https://time.com/4041624/ben-carson-muslim-president/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt528b9918a53906e0/6988645f35ba6f8eb4c0f3d6/2015-09-18t224125z_1870419942_gf100002.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3500 og:image:height: 1969 og:image:alt: U.S. Republican candidate Dr. Ben Carson og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Ben Carson Says a Muslim Shouldn't Be President twitter:description: "I would not advocate that we put a Muslim in charge of this nation" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt528b9918a53906e0/6988645f35ba6f8eb4c0f3d6/2015-09-18t224125z_1870419942_gf100002.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Ben Carson Says a Muslim Shouldn't Be President > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: Watch the Republican Debate In Less than 3 Minutes [Watch (HLS stream): Watch the Republican Debate In Less than 3 Minutes](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/FZG84mwx.m3u8) (2:44)  _Published 2015-09-17. Watch the top 11 Republican candidates face off during the second GOP debate._  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Sep 20, 2015 1:59 PM UTC  U.S. Republican candidate Dr. Ben Carson U.S. Republican candidate Dr. Ben Carson Chris Keane—Reuters  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Sep 20, 2015 1:59 PM UTC GOP presidential candidate Ben Carson said he would not support a Muslim presidential candidate, calling Islam inconsistent with the constitution in an [interview](http://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/ben-carson-does-not-believe-muslim-should-be-president-n430431?cid=sm%5Ftw&hootPostID=0ea93e897a4f80b460fda90edcb03641) on _Meet the Press_ Sunday. “I would not advocate that we put a Muslim in charge of this nation,” he said. “I absolutely would not agree with that.” Carson, a retired neurosurgeon who now sits near the top of GOP polls, is known for his devout Christian beliefs. On Sunday, he suggested that not all faiths are equal when it comes to holding elected office. “If it’s inconsistent with the values and principles of America, then of course it should matter,” he said. Carson also noted that he would consider voting for a Muslim for Congress, depending on the candidate’s policy views. Islam has been a frequent topic among presidential candidates in recent days. This week Donald Trump was widely criticized for [not correcting](http://time.com/4039658/trump-obama-muslim/) a questioner who called President Barack Obama a Muslim in a New Hampshire town hall meeting. ## Transcript [ APPLAUSE ] I never attacked him on his look. And believe me, there's plenty of subject matter right there. [ LAUGH ] We don't need an apprentice in the White House. We have one right now. So 40 years ago, I smoked marijuana. But when you challenge the status quo, you make enemies. I made a few. Steve Jobs told me that when he called me the day I was fired. More energy tonight. I like that. Just because he says it doesn't make it true. I think women all over this country heard very clearly what Mr. Trump said. [ MUSIC ] We're fighting ISIS. ISIS wants to fight Syria. Why are we fighting ISIS in Syria? Let them fight each other and pick up the remnants . >> Yes. Having met Vladimir Putin, I wouldn't talk to him at all. We've talked way too much to him. The single biggest National security threat facing America right now, is the threat of a nuclear Iran. We are stronger when we work with the western civilization, our friends in Europe, and just doing it on our own, I don't think is the right policy. I don't think we need to be rash. I don't think we need to be reckless. And I think we need to leave a lines of communication open. We need to be strong against China. How do we confront Iran? And the first thing that we need to do is to reestablish our commitment to Israel, which has been tattered by this administration. [ MUSIC ] I defunded Planned Parenthood. And I vetoed Planned Parenthood funding, now, 8 times in New Jersey. We don't want this organization to get funding, and the money oughta be reprogrammed. And for family planning in other organizations that don't support this tactic. Let's ask Hillary Clinton. She believes in the systematic murder of children in the womb, to preserve their body parts [ UNKNOWN ] in a way that maximizes their value for sale for profit. Well he's wrong on a lot of things, but on this he's wrong because I'm the most pro- life governor on this stage. I'd like to link these two issues, both of which are incredibly important. Iran and Planned Parenthood. One has something to do with the defense of the security of this nation. The other has something to do with the defense of the character of this nation. We need to take the fingerprint of every person. Who comes to this country on a visa, and when they over stay their visa we need to tap them on the shoulder and say, you have over stayed your welcome, you're taking advantage of the American people, it's time for you to go. If we don't seal the border the rest of the stuff really doesn't matter. You're proud of your family just as I am. Correct. To subject my wife into the middle of a raucous. Political conversation was completely inappropriate. And I hope you apologize for that, Donald. But to build a wall and to deport people, half a million a month, would cost hundreds of billions of dollars, Donald. This is a country where we speak English, not Spanish. [ APPLAUSE ] And the next president of the United States better be someone who understands these issues, and has good judgment about them. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4041624/ben-carson-muslim-president/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4041624/ben-carson-muslim-president/"},"headline":"Ben Carson Says a Muslim Shouldn't Be President","datePublished":"2015-09-20T13:59:55.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:41:50.310Z","description":"'If it's inconsistent with the values and principles of America, then of course it should matter'","url":"https://time.com/4041624/ben-carson-muslim-president/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt528b9918a53906e0/6988645f35ba6f8eb4c0f3d6/2015-09-18t224125z_1870419942_gf100002.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Justin Worland","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/justin-worland/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt528b9918a53906e0/6988645f35ba6f8eb4c0f3d6/2015-09-18t224125z_1870419942_gf100002.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"U.S. Republican candidate Dr. Ben Carson","caption":"U.S. Republican candidate Dr. Ben Carson","creditText":"Chris Keane—Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4041624/ben-carson-muslim-president/","name":"Ben Carson Says a Muslim Shouldn't Be President"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Watch the Republican Debate In Less than 3 Minutes","description":"Watch the top 11 Republican candidates face off during the second GOP debate.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/FZG84mwx/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-09-17T04:16:23.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/FZG84mwx.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4041624/ben-carson-muslim-president/","duration":"PT2M44S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4041624/ben-carson-muslim-president/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```