--- 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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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### 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. ```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"}}] ```