Republican presidential guilt suppressant and all-purpose sedative, Ben Carson, appeared today on Fox News MediaBuzz with Howard Kurtz (video below). The conversation covered a gamut of critical issues facing the nation, such as his dust up with Donald Trump, the irrelevancy of race in party politics, and why he is trying to stop saying stupid things on the campaign trail (i.e. ObamaCare is just like slavery and being gay is choice that people make when they go to prison). It’s good to see the media forcing candidates to address the real problems our society has to deal with.
In addition to those examples of national crises, Kurtz asked Carson about his views on faith in public life. For a few minutes Fox turned into the Jesus Praisathon Network, even posting graphics that asked whether voters would “heed the call” of Carson’s “faith-based run.”. Like every other Republican candidate, Carson believes in a form of Christian Sharia Law wherein everybody has to be subject to the biblical dogma of the majority. To emphasize his point, Carson told Kurtz about how fond he is of the First Amendment and then went on to say that anyone who doesn’t practice a religious faith is an idiot:
Carson: People who say that religion has nothing to do with their life probably don’t know exactly what religion is. Just because you don’t necessarily believe in God or Jesus doesn’t mean that you don’t have a religion. Even atheism is a religion. You have something that you believe in without complete evidence that it exists.
Carson is demonstrating his reverence for the Constitution by demeaning everyone who holds different beliefs than he does. Obviously they can’t possibly understand religion if they don’t follow his. What’s more, the notion that someone who doesn’t accept the existence of a supernatural nanny, is still following a religion, defies reason. Atheism is the absence of a belief in religion. It’s like saying that someone who doesn’t believe in the fairy tale of Santa Claus still believes in the fairy tale of a world without Santa Claus. Come on people, where’s the evidence that Santa doesn’t exist?
This is consistent with Carson’s previous assaults on religious freedom. In the recent case involving Kim Davis, the Kentucky County Clerk who was found in contempt of court for refusing to issue marriage licenses to legal applicants who happened to gay, Carson took the absurd position that requiring her to do her job without discriminating was an infringement of her civil rights.
Carson told Megyn Kelly of Fox News that Davis should be entitled to deny marriage licenses to people who do not adhere to the laws of her faith. When Kelly asked if that might be slippery slope wherein Catholics could refuse licenses to people who had divorced (which Davis had done three times), or Muslims could deny licenses to Christian couples, Carson’s response was that it was OK for Christians to discriminate because America is a Judeo-Christian majority nation.
So take that, Freedom of Religion. I guess it’s also OK for whites to discriminate against blacks because we are a white majority nation. Clearly Carson’s interpretation of the Constitution is a perverse mutilation of reality and the principles for which our country stands. He would take America further along the path of theocracy were he to have any role in governing. And what’s worse is that his is not a fringe opinion in the GOP. Every Republican candidate holds the very same views. It’s the old story about the party that pretends to want government off your back, but still wants it in your bedroom and in your deepest, most personal thoughts.
News Corpse Presents: The ALL NEW 2nd volume of
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.
I…..
Learned….that…if….I Speak….
Very….,
slowly….&….quietly….people tend to….
Listen more closely….
……
and….I figure…..I’m the ….author…
of reality.
BS, You GRIFTER! I LEARNED the same thing WITHOUT going to college.
Drop Dead Carson.
um, to channel PALIN & Trump, let’s see, first remove ALL filters.
Ok. America, ya know? And we need to be great! Again, because the Founders were not, ya know, as great as, i dunno, so when we kick out all the , (Fill in the blanks), then WE (Amurika) will, gee, great!
I mean, I’ve made deals, yes, I’m well, look, since everyone else is stupid, that leaves me, right?
Am I right?
When WE are great, you are great, ya know? And I am great.
Great!
When the Russkies, & the Arabs, And the other people..geee, well, we can do no wrong! When those in DC that wud tak yer gunz? (Quizzical freakshow look), & Pass to Trump….
I Wanna make America Great Again.
Let that sink in…
Hey Trump you chump, MY ancestor volunteered to fight for G. Washington!
And that oughta be worth more than your flimsy debt/asset paper.
I don’t care that this man was once a brilliant surgeon—-he is a complete real world idiot.
Lie. Dr. Carson is a class act. Stop sounding like Donald Trump.
Then stop sounding like Bill O’Reilly.
As an atheist (who has a bit of bleedover with strong agnosticism, or vice-versa), I get annoyed with the “disbelief is a religion” mindset. People misuse the definition of “faith” when they do this, saying it takes faith NOT to believe. It’s kind of how they’ll likewise misuse the word “theory.” To be an atheist or agnostic (or a blend like me), all you need to do is lack belief. That’s it. That’s not a religion.
It *is* in that category, which might be were some confusion comes from. On a survey, one would write “atheist,” “agnostic” or “NONE” in the “Religion” spot. But it’s like writing “bald” or “NONE” for hair color. To believe that means it is in actuality a religion, would be like saying “off” is a TV channel.
If atheism is a religion, then not playing football is a sport.
It’s clear that Dr. Carson is pandering to the evangelical bottom feeders of society. He’s also banking on, what I feel, is Rightwing repentance. After years of maligning President Obama racially (indirectly through Birtherism and directly through various epithets), Cons feel the need to back up a black candidate to prove they aren’t bigots. How far they will go–most seem to relegate Carson to VP or something–remains to be seen.
And why do media steer clear of asking Carson about racial topics? He’s yet to give any comment on the BLM or the fact that nearly 50% of Republicans believe President Obama was born somewhere in Africa.
Oh Ben, you are a consummate idiot. Your sky cowboy may not have even existed. Constantine made him a demigod 300 years after the supposed crucifixion. Go back to your cave and pray fool.
You are full of hate, just like Mark.
And you’re always pretty much always with your 1 liner ad hominems.
Carson’s words and actions demonstrate what he truly is, and no paltitudes from you will change that.
Great! As a Police Officer I can now refuse to help or investigate crimes against christians because it is an infringement on my Atheist “religion” which bars me from giving aid and comfort to christians.
I am so tired of these religious freeks. Saying atheism is a religion is the stupidest thing you can say about it. I’m an atheist and if it is a religion then it is the greatest one of them all because I don’t have to do a fuckin’ thing. No stupid Sunday service or tithing. It’s the easiest religion in the world, if it was a religion, which it clearly is not. That makes Ben Carson an idiot religious zealot!
I theorize the believers say that because they are losing the argument on the existence in a supreme being. It doesn’t take long to debunk the argument if you’re intellectually honest. I tried for years and just couldn’t do it anymore. I think science has come too far to ignore or downplay anymore – it’s a losing proposition to defend faith like that – eventually the lack of evidence is hard to overcome.
I get why Atheists like me don’t want for Atheism to be considered a religion, but if we want people to not defy our first amendment rights and continue to pander to us as a group of nothings, we might have to start explaining it that way to people. After all, we still believe in stuff, it’s just stuff that can be proven. Maybe if we start declaring truth to be our beliefs then people will start respecting those thoughts and stop treating us like the odd man out.
“…demonstrating his reverence for the Constitution by demeaning everybody who disagrees with him…”
Which is what Mark does with every pathetic column he writes.
Why do you read his columns religiously then?
It indeed says something about a reader who is always here reading what he/she describes “pathetic.”
“Even atheism is a religion.”
Sure; and down is up and left is right and smart is stupid and love is hate and death is life and… etc.
Not that we needed any more evidence, but they just keep proving it over & over: in the rightwing bubble, words have no meaning.
Well, Gentle Ben, I am a devout, born-again atheist, and arrived at that philosophy as I became more and more disillusioned by organized religion, especially Christianity and its blatant hypocrisy as practiced almost world-wide. No, my atheism is NOT a religion. Yes, I do believe in certain things: myself, great literature, great music, science, exploration, discovery, genetics, stem-cell research, women’s rights, especially their reproductive ones, and genuine equality in our nation: living standards, wages, voting access, abortion respect, and charity for the less fortunate that government is best able to supply. Church charities tend to want something in return—like one’s soul. Well, I actually would be safe as I don’t believe I have a soul and that when I die, that’s it. Dust to dust–as I shall be cremated.
I believe there’s no Santa Claus. Guess that’s a religion according to Ben Carson.
We believe there is a devil for his prophet lived in an undisclosed location for eight years and believed himself Emperor of the United States and Protector of Mexico. There must therefore be a god because nature abhors a vacuum. God, however, appears to have left Her earthly affairs to the Three Stooges, who seem to have been reincarnated as prominent Rethuglicans.
I don’t care if Carson holds idiotic ideas in his delusional mind. It is frightening and alarming to see someone as confused as he is running for the highest office in the land though. He’s a Creationist, a science-denier and he definitely has challenges with using logic and reasoning. Calling atheism a religion is simply dishonest and stupid too.