Dr. Ben Carson, a pediatric
neurosurgeon at John Hopkins University and a conservative celebrity,
last week told a Christian conservative group opposed to gay marriage
that such unions endanger God's relationship with his people and
“everything else in the Bible.”
On Friday, Carson spoke to the Illinois
Family Institute (IFI), the leading Illinois-based group lobbying
against passage of a proposed bill which seeks to make Illinois the
14th state to legalize gay marriage. The Illinois House
could vote on the measure as early as this month.
(Related: Illinois
gay marriage bill might not see House vote this year.)
Carson described the relationship
between Jesus Christ and his followers as similar to a marriage.
“Think about the implications of
that,” said Carson. “When people come along and try to change
the definition of marriage, they are directly attacking the
relationship between God and his people.”
“And that's the reason it's so
important for them to change the definition, because if you can get
rid of that, you can get rid of everything else in the Bible too.”
In April, Carson stepped down as
commencement speaker at the John Hopkins School of Medicine and
apologized for comparing gay nuptials to bestiality and pedophilia
during a Fox News interview. In his apology, Carson said that he was
“saddened” that “my poorly chosen words caused pain for some
members of our community and for that I offer a most sincere and
heartfelt apology.”
“I was amused how they tried to paint
me as a homophobe, they came out with all guns blasting. It was
funny, it had the Chick-fil-A effect,” he said Friday. “They
realized they were actually doing me a favor so they stopped.”
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