Retired neurosurgeon and 2016 Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson says imams should be encouraged to condemn the more radical elements of the Muslim faith.
“What we need to do, I think, is encourage the imams and the clerics to come out and condemn the radical elements of that faith,” Mr. Carson said on Monday evening’s “Hannity” program on Fox News.
“I grew up in Detroit, I’ve always known a lot of people in the Muslim community, and many of them are patriotic, wonderful people who don’t believe that radical stuff,” he said.
“But somebody needs to come out and make that distinction because we need to have a way of being able to tell who our friends [are] and who our friends are not,” Mr. Carson said. “And we’ve got to become responsible.”
Mr. Carson, who in the wake of the recent attacks in Paris has called on Congress to strip funding for the resettlement of Syrian refugees in the United States, said “of course” the Islamic State, which has claimed responsibility for the attacks, would try to infiltrate the refugee population.
“As I’ve said, it would be malpractice on their behalf not to infiltrate it,” he said. “You have a wonderful vehicle allowing you to get these radical elements right into the midst of America — of course they’re going to do that, and at some point we have to use something called common sense. And I think that’s one of the things the American people are so frustrated by. We have these politicians, and they seem to have completely lost contact with rational thought” processing.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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