George W. Bush said God wanted him to be president of the United States; lo, and behold, his wish came true!
Rick Santorum made noises that God wanted him to be President. Rick Perry, currently governor of Texas, says much the same thing. Mike Huckabee talks about God a lot, and he, too, might run for president.
Now we've got a medical doctor by name of Benjamin Carson who says he's just a pawn on God's chess board, or something like that. When David Brody of the Christian Broadcasting Network asked ol' Ben if he was thinking of a political life, Ben said "God would have to grab him by the collar. Has he felt the tug?
"I feel fingers," he saith to Mr. Broday..
Isn't that cute?
But which one will God choose?
Carson will never be president because he has zero political experience, he's a member of the 7th Day Adventist cult, he's not very bright when it comes to non-surgical matters, and he tends to shoot from the mouth before putting ammunition into his brain.
I hope the Repugs give him the nod, though, as it will make things much easier for the Dems.
Carson has written a couple of books, the most important being "Gifted Hands," which has also been made into a movie and tells his life story so familiar to so many already. It's much like a soap opera.
Born poor, raised by a single mom in Detroit, he was headed down the wrong path. He even tried to stab a kid with a knife but hit the kid's belt and thus no damage was done. But lil' Ben went home, found a Bible, "gave his life to Jesus and asked the Lord to take away his violent temper." Today, he claims, he just doesn't get angry.
Carson made his way through Yale, eventually ending up at Johns Hopkins University where he became the director of the Division of Pediatric Neurosurgery, among other things, and in 1987 became the first surgeon to successfully separate siamese twins conjoined at the back of the head.
Talk about a success story!
Unfortunately, such a story does not automatically translate into brilliance in other fields or political success. A surgeon, no matter how gifted, does not necessarily have the wherewithal to become a good president, or a senator for that matter. James Inhofe, an MD from Oklahoma sits in our Congress and calls climate change a hoax, for his god would never destroy the earth in such a manner; and Paul C. Broun of Georgia, who will be leaving Congress in January, is also an MD (a GYN, I believe) who is convinced that evolution is Satan's plot to send us all to hell.
Carson's belief that God wants him to be president may not be enough. As a 7th Day Adventist, he holds to a literal interpretation of the Bible, affirming every word to be true. Thus he believes in a 6-day creation which happened about 6,000 years ago and that God created all life on earth. Carson rejects the theory of evolution.
"Evolution and creationism both require faith," he claims. "It's just a matter of where you choose to place that faith."
Now that's just plain dumb. Creationism requires one hell of a lot of faith for there is not one piece of evidence anywhere to verify it. Evolution, on the other hand, is a theory that is verified in millions of ways every day, and "is the central principle that animates modern biology, uniting all biological fields under one theoretical tent, and which virtually all modern scientists agree is true." (Quote from Valerie Strauss at
The Answer Sheet.)
When Carson was invited to deliver the commencement speech at Emory University, almost 500 faculty, students and alumni signed a letter of protest because of Carson's anti-science views and the fact that he has intimated that people who believe in evolution may lack ethics.
He claims he never said that, but what we're going to find as we look closer at this man is that he says a lot of things which he then claims he never said or his words were misinterpreted or too much emphasis was put on his words when he meant something different from what he said. He doesn't make much sense.
He said, for example, "By believing we are the product of random acts, we eliminate morality and the basis of ethical behavior. For if there is no such thing as moral authority, you can do anything you want. You make everything relative, and there's no reason for any of our higher values."
Then, he backtracked, saying he never said that people who believe in evolution were unethical. If you believe in God then it's easy to be ethical, but "People who believe in the survival of the fittest might have more difficulty deriving where their ethics come from. A lot of evolutionists are very ethical people."
Huh? He seems to want it both ways. Believe in evolution and you're going to be a moral mess. On the other hand "a lot of evolutionists are very ethical people." Sorry, Ben, but you need to make up your mind.
In an interview with "Faith & Liberty," Carson spoke of his rejection of evolution "arguing that the science of evolution is a sign of humankind's arrogance and belief 'that they are so smart that if they can't explain how God did something, then it didn't happen, which of course means that they're God. You don't need a God if you consider yourself capable of explaining everything.'"
Uh huh.
[Carson might profit from reading "God - The Failed Hypothesis," by the late Victor J. Stenger who brilliantly shows how science proves God does not exist. The fact is, science can explain everything and we no longer need a god.]
Worse, though, is that Carson's belief system is based on false premises for which there is no evidence. As the Emory protestors said:
"Dr. Carson argues that there is no evidence for evolution, that there are no transitional fossils that provide evidence for the evolution of humans from a common ancestor with other apes, that evolution is a wholly random process, and that life is too complex to have originated by the natural process of evolution. All of these claims are incorrect. The evidence for evolution is overwhelming: ape-human transitional fossils are discovered at an ever increasing rate, and the processes by which organisms evolve new and more complex body plans are now known to be caused by relatively simple alterations of the expression of small numbers of developmental genes. Our understanding of the evolutionary process has advanced our ability to develop animal models for disease, our ability to combat the spread of infectious disease and, in point of fact, the work of Dr. Carson himself is based on scientific advances fostered by an understanding of evolution."
Here's another example of his confusion: He believes no one can know the age of the earth ... "carbon dating and all of these things really don't mean anything to a God who has the ability to create anything at any point in time."
That makes no sense. The discussion isn't about what might mean something to his magic man in the sky. We're talking about what might mean something to humans. Evolution means something. Creationism means nothing for it is unverifiable and is diametrically opposed to all of science!
It's really quite sad. He's simply ignorant of what the theory of evolution is all about as evidenced by his comment about the complexity of the human brain and the human eyeball: Those things, he says, prove that evolution is a "myth". "Somebody says that came from a slime pit full of promiscuous chemicals? I don't think so."
Perhaps if he went back to school and studied evolution, about which he obviously doesn't have a clue, he might change his tune. Probably not, though, as religion tends to trump reality every time.
In this day and age, it would be insane to have a president who failed to accept the truth of evolution which is proven over and over again millions of times every day!
Perhaps that's why Dr. Carson, a believer in holy ghosts, can feel the fingers of god tugging him in the direction of the White House. If you can discard evolution, which is verifiable, well you can believe in just about anything, verifiable or not.
Or, as someone else put it: Carson may be a brilliant brain surgeon, "Yet he still holds a worldview so transparently in opposition to reality and suffused with Tea Party-esque delusions of socialism and social decay that it's truly stunning, sometimes, that he believes the things he's saying. It's almost like Carson considers stupidity an innately Christian virtue, standing resolutely against all those eggheads working to turn America into a hedonistic hellhole."
We've determined that Ben Carson is not a viable candidate for the office of the presidency because he does not accept proven facts about reality, but relies on his fundamentalist Christian notions instead.
Let's turn now to some of his political beliefs and proclivities and pronouncements. His god, as you might imagine, is ever present. For example, Carson is hoping that God will get involved in our health care system and "expose the truth about Obamacare." Carson claims that the Affordable Care Act will make people lose their health care - even though the reverse is true. But ol' Ben has "prayed to God that he will expose even to people of low information what is going on."
In October of 2013, Carson compared the ACA to slavery. The ACA was "the worst thing that has happened in this nation since slavery," and then said the law is "slavery, in a way." Try telling that to the hundreds of thousands who now have health care and couldn't get it before the ACA.
One of the mantras promoted by our whiny Christian fundamentalists is that Christians are being terribly persecuted in the United States - even though the reverse is true. Christians, says Carson, have "been bludgeoned into silence." Not quite. Every time you turn around they're busy promoting their fundy Christianity in the public square. What is really happening is they are afraid of a pluralistic society and thus fight any attempt to deny their "right" to impose their religious beliefs on the rest of us.
Nazi Germany also enters the Carson conversation. You know, of course, that the Obama administration is "turning America into Nazi Germany," and you also know that the President found his inspiration from Mein Kampf." "There comes a time," Carson said, "when people with values simply have to stand up. Think about Nazi Germany. Most of those people did not believe in what Hitler was doing. But did they speak up? Did they stand up for what they believe in? They did not, and you saw what happened."
I don't think Carson is historically correct here, either.
Note though, if you don't agree with Carson's religious and political stances, you don't have "values." But if you have "values" then you need to "stand up" and run the president and Democrats out of the country!
He's expounded on those Nazi comparisons. This country, he says, is "very much like Nazi Germany. And I know you're not supposed to say 'Nazi Germany,' but I don't care about political correctness. You know, you had a government using its tools to intimidate the population. We now live in a society where people are afraid to say what they actually believe."
What? This is pure nonsense. Gibberish that could have come from Bachman or Palin. They only difference is they don't have a M.D. after their name.
Here again we have a so-called Christian promoting lies. He must know they are lies. If he doesn't then he's either dumber and/or more evil than he appears to be!
Carson got his shorts in a knot when the U.S. Navy decided to remove Bibles from their Navy Lodge hotel rooms. This was a terrible travesty he whined. His mind is so screwed up that he thinks the absence of Christian Bibles in a military structure is actually the imposition of atheism on people and thus a promotion of atheism.
And atheism, he says in just another religion. Not. It is the absence of religion; the absence of belief.
Moving right along. He is warning we might not be able to have elections in 2016 because of anarchy. Why? Because ISIS; and the national debt, which he claims is "rapidly increasing," although the truth is that under Obama the national debt has been significantly reduced. More lies by Mr. Carson.
Gay marriage. He's against it. Carson is afraid that "'neo-marxists' are trying to undermine the very bedrock of America's uniquely successful project by changing the definition of family. He says, "My thoughts are that marriage is between a man and a woman. It's a well-established fundamental pillar of society and no group, be they gays, be they NAMBLA, be they people who believe in beastiality, it doesn't matter what they are, they don't get to change the definition."
Make one wonder just how much of the Bible he has read, for it's quite clear that in the "good old days," men could have multiple wives even, and they could add on a few mistresses for good measure.
Seventh Day Adventist theology is quite strange. The 7th Day folks believe that the U.S. will ally itself with the Roman Catholic Papacy and that alliance is going to take away the civil and religious liberties of Americans and other people all over the world. It will force everyone to worship on Sunday (that's threatening to 7th Dayers, as they worship on Saturday).
All of this will culminate in a huge conflagration or apocalypse during which millions of people who refuse to agree to the order to worship on Sunday will be killed. In fact, this is already beginning to happen!
I suppose Ben figures that if Mitt got a by with his Mormonism, he'll have no problem because it's very clear that Mormons are not Christians at all.
There's much more about Carson's religious views that are worthy of scrutiny but I'll save that for another time. I think the next couple years will bring lots of laughs.
God has tugged at his collar and it looks like Carson will answer God's call to throw his hat in the presidential ring. Ben and his wife are ready. His wife, Candy Carson (that's really her name!) is well aware of what lies ahead, how people will "demonize" Ben as time goes by. But they must do it because, she says, "Our country is going in a way that is different from what our founding fathers were thinking..." And their Christian faith will see them through.
Conservative Christians glom onto Carson like a bug on a light. And that's fascinating to me as I knew Christian conservatives back 40 years ago who thought that Adventism was a miserable cult and of the devil and Adventists weren't going to go to heaven!
But times have changed. Boy have the changed. When the fundys and the Catholics get together to promote each other's agendas, that's a whole new world. So, good old Christian, Ben, says he relies on God. In fact, God "directs" their lives. "We recognize that we are instruments in the hand of God. He is the one who really orchestrates all of this." And fundamentalists of all stripes clap their hands and praise the Lord!
It is hard for me to think of a more elitist, prideful, bunch of BS; to think that of all the possible candidates in the world for the presidency of the United States, the god of the universe has selected this somewhat ignorant and foolish medical doctor for the job.
Chew on that for awhile.
Here's a few final tidbits that help define Dr. Carson.
1. He believes the U.S of A. is a Judeo-Christian nation. It says so on our coinage!
2. Our debt is the big issue. It's out-of-control.
3. We should have a flat-tax; lower corporate tax rates, and create health savings accounts for everyone.
4. President Obama is much like Vladimir Putin in that he just keeps doing whatever he wants to do because nobody's resisting him. [This I thought especially funny and really stupid for the Congress of the United States has fought Obama tooth and nail for six years. The Republicans in Congress have been very open about the fact they care nothing about doing their job, only about bringing Obama down. How's that for resistance, Mr. Carson?]
5. The president is doing unconstitutional things and Congress needs to get a "spine."
6. Carson is praying to his god that he "show his power in a mighty way." "We most definitely need a spiritual awakening. Look at the direction we are going in. Absolute absurdity."
There is indeed "absolute absurdity." It is what best defines Dr. Benjamin Carson!
Finally, I would hope that the people of the United States remember what happened the last time they elected someone who said he talked to a mythical male in the sky and that mythical male wanted him to be president.
Of course, the mythical male was wrong. It took the Supreme Court to hand old Bush the White House which he took of course, as a nod from God.
