Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Carson a Seventh-Day Adventist

I haven't developed strong feelings about Dr. Ben Carson as presidential candidate one way or the other. That he is soft-spoken is nice, clearly no bomb-thrower. I'm not certain I "get" his appeal to Iowa's evangelical voters.

Yes, he is religious, in fact a Seventh-Day Adventist according to a Financial Times article. The group is not normally clustered with evangelical Christians, although they are certainly serious about their faith.

A major tenet of SDA faith is that the end of the world is near. I wonder how that would impact Carson's foreign policy decisions, his interpretation of the motives and actions of foreign leaders?

It isn't widely known the SDA church advocates, but does not require, vegetarianism and requires following the kosher or halal diet, which is to say avoiding pork, shellfish, etc. I imagine that could puzzle the White House chef and make banquet planning complicated.