Ben Carson, Muslims, and What Voting for President Really Means

If you have watched the news or been online at all, you’ve undoubtedly heard that Presidential Candidate Dr. Ben Carson is in the hot seat for saying that he does not think a Muslim should be President of the United States.

Many pundits and commentators have weighed in on Dr. Carson’s statements, but I really appreciate the simple question posed by my husband David French over at his column on the National Review:

As we’ve been discussing on the Corner today, Ben Carson is under fire for expressing that he would not support a Muslim candidate for president. My response to the question would be simple: “Which Muslim?”

David goes on to explain why faith helps shape a person’s politics, but it can never tell the full story:

I’ve never in my life voted for a faith. I’ve voted for candidates. And while faith certainly helps form candidates, faith identification can’t even begin to tell their entire political story. I’m Evangelical, but I’d walk over broken glass to vote for my conservative atheist friend and NR colleague Charlie Cooke rather than, say, a progressive Presbyterian – even though he or she shares aspects of my religious tradition. And while I’d never support Abdel Fattah el-Sisi for president for a host of reasons (beginning with the fact that he’s an Egyptian strongman), I prefer his ruthless approach to fighting jihad over our own Christian president’s pattern of half-measures and appeasement.

As conservatives and people of faith, we must be above the identity politics peddled by the culturally progressive elites and mainstream media (as my husband would say, I repeat myself.) When we vote for President of the United States, we aren’t voting for a religion, but a person.

For more of David’s thoughts on this issue, read his full article.

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