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Ben Carson: Seventh-Day Adventists Should Ordain Women

  • Carrie Dedrick Religious persecution, missions, Christianity around the world
  • Updated Nov 03, 2015

Republican presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson said in a recent interview that he believes his denomination, the Seventh-Day Adventist Church, should ordain female clergy. Carson told the Associated Press that the denomination made a “mistake” when they voted against allowing female clergy at their 60th General Conference Session in July. 

"I don't see any reason why women can't be ordained," Carson said.

The Christian Post reports Carson and his wife are members at a Seventh-Day Adventist church in Spencerville, Maryland, but the retired neurosurgeon says he focuses his faith in God which is not “denomination specific.” 

Previously Republican rival Donald Trump criticized Carson’s denomination, claiming his own Presbyterian faith “is middle of the road.” 

Carson responded, "Donald Trump is Donald Trump. It doesn't surprise me that he's doing that. I would only be surprised if he didn't. There's a lot of things that are done in politics that are not fair, but when you get into the fray you have to expect those things."

Carson reportedly found God at the age of 14 after attempting to assault a peer. After the assault attempt failed, Carson realized he was starting down the wrong path. 

He said, "I just fell on my knees [in the bathroom] and started praying. I just said, 'Lord, there's got to be something better; I can't control this.' And there was a Bible, and I picked the Bible up and it just opened to the book of Proverbs, and I started reading and there were all these verses about anger and what happens to angry people."

Carson turned his life around at that point, and looked to God to control his temper. 

Publication date: November 3, 2015