Islamophobia rears head in presidential campaigns

Following a tense week for Muslim-Americans, Ben Carson, neurosurgeon-turned-Republican primary presidential candidate, announced he would not agree with a Muslim becoming the commander-in-chief.

Carson was on NBC’s “Meet the Press” Sunday night when he was asked whether religious affiliations should matter for a president.

According to Carson’s response, he felt the beliefs and values of Islam were incompatible with those of the United States and its Constitution, and he does not believe a Muslim person should be president.

But his statement broached deeper legal and historical principles.

Carl Ernst, professor of religious studies at UNC, said Carson’s statement was incredibly out of touch with the constitutional history of the United States.

“The Constitution stipulates that ‘there shall be no religious test’ for a president,” he said.

Ernst said when North Carolina discussed the ratification of the Constitution in Fayetteville of 1789, a majority voted that no Muslim should be excluded from the office of the presidency — a then-implausible situation.

Carson’s statement outraged the Muslim community.

“He makes it seem like being a Muslim is paradox to being an American,” said Sumer Kanawati, a recent UNC graduate and Muslim woman.

She said prejudice based on ignorance, fear and misinformation still exists.

“I am trying to grasp his logic, and I think he’s not educated enough on what Islam is,” she said.

The remarks came within days of a Texas student’s arrest for bringing a homemade clock to school.

Ahmed Mohamed, 14, brought the personal project he intended to show his teacher to his school in Irving, Texas, but the school contacted the police fearing a bomb.

Mohamed was held, arrested and later suspended.

Tazeen Farooque, president of the UNC Muslim Students Association, said there would have been an outcry if this person weren’t Muslim.

“Their response to a perceived threat was completely incorrect,” said Sofia Dard, a UNC graduate and former president of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Student Association.

“You let him stay in the school, you let him keep the clock, you didn’t evacuate the building,” she said.

“If you really thought this was a bomb, there would have been appropriate steps to take.”

Ernst said the issue of Islamophobia surrounds citizenship, and a radical idea has taken hold that Muslims are inherently foreign and therefore not American.

Sundus Alfe, a sophomore at UNC who was raised Muslim, said Republican campaigns should focus on trying to help Islamic communities in the United States rather than making things more difficult.

“We’re all Americans, and there’s nothing that can help our country more than tolerance and kindness,” Alfe said.

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