Dr. Ben Carson told a Sharonville audience that his comments about opposing a Muslim president were taken out of context. But when he said he’d oppose a Muslim as president, he raised the question of his credibility to run himself, says a local attorney who chairs the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
“He was making very bigoted remarks,” said Roula Allouch, an Erlanger resident and attorney in Cincinnati. “The concern with Mr. Carson is a lack of credibility that he has to run for the president of the United States.”
Allouch, was named the national board chair of the council, the nation’s leading Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, in July 2014.
She said Carson’s remarks Sunday on NBC’s Meet the Press, including when he described the Islamic faith as inconsistent with the Constitution, show a lack of “basic knowledge” of the U.S. Constitution and of the Islamic religion.
“Obviously, freedom of religion is a founding principle of the U.S. Constitution,” Allouch said. "(And) there is no religious test for political office.”
A devout Christian, Carson said on Meet the Press, “I would not advocate that we put a Muslim in charge of this nation.”
When asked about Carson’s remarks, Karen Dabdoub, executive director the Cincinnati Council on American-Islamic Relations office, also questioned his knowledge of the U.S. Constitution.
But in Sharonville on Tuesday, the presidential candidate said his remarks opposing a potential Muslim presidentwere taken out of context.
Regardless, Allouch said, his comments stood.
“While Mr. Carson did try to backtrack yesterday and modify his comments, what was very clear was that he very clearly stated was that he would not support putting a Muslim president in office.”
She said officials in the country should “take the lead on these issues.”
“We as a country need to stand against all forms of hate, all forms of bigotry,” Allouch said.
She noted that already there is a backlash against Muslims within the country, illustrated even in recent events.
Allouch noted as problematic the 14-year-old Texas boy who was suspended from school and detained after he brought a clock he made to school.
And she noted, some of the bigotry is nearby, citing the Sept. 16 incident at the Louisville Islamic Center, which was vandalized with hate speech.
“Louisville is not that far from Cincinnati,” said Allouch, who grew up in Berea and Lexington and went to the University of Kentucky for both undergrad and law school.
“I think that with respect generally and specifically in the Cincinnati area, there is a rising Islamaphobia in our society that would be reflected locally in either intolerance or misinformation about the religion,” Allouch said.
The Enquirer interviewed Allouch when she was named chair of the national council in 2014. Asked the biggest misunderstanding or misconception that people not familiar with the Islamic faith have about Muslims,Allouch said then,“I think to me the biggest thing is looking at people in the Muslim community as another instead of understanding that we practice a faith that is a monotheistic faith. We have the same core set of values and principles.
“We just, I think, too often are looked at as the other, instead of people understanding that we practice a different faith but there’s so many similarities.”