Will Schmitt

WSCHMITT@NEWS-LEADER.COM

POINT LOOKOUT — Outside the college were the letters "RLM" and a cross covered with American flags. The sign next to them read: "Religious Liberty Matters."

Inside, Ben Carson urged a conservative audience to be strong in their faith and stand by their beliefs in the face of "ever-growing government."

Tyranny will reign otherwise, "and there will be mass killings once again," Carson told a crowd Friday. "The peace that we experience now will be a memory only. This is the nation that stands between peace and utter chaos."

Asked at a press conference how he thought such a grim future might come about, Carson referenced "the whole gay marriage issue."

"Why must they change it?" Carson said, referring to efforts to recognize civil unions as equal to traditional marriage. "I believe the reason is, if you can change the word of God in one area, then you can change it in every area. It's the camel's nose under the tent, and it will just be an avalanche of one thing after the other."

"We won't have anything that we can use as our reference point because we will have thrown out God's word. It'll be every man for himself, every man deciding for himself what is right and what is wrong, and that can't possibly lead to a good place."

Carson, a neurosurgeon and former Republican presidential candidate, was a featured speaker at the Pensmore National Symposium on Religious Liberty at the College of the Ozarks, where he and others spoke about the importance of protecting an individual's right to free worship and preserving traditions.

Carson also reiterated support for Donald Trump and Eric Greitens, Republican candidates for president and Missouri governor, respectively. He noted that Trump has said he is pro-life and has also publicly opposed the "Johnson amendment," a 1954 provision that prevents tax-exempt organizations for endorsing or opposing political candidates.

Democrat Hillary Clinton is pro-abortion rights, has said she will support Planned Parenthood and has come out in favor of late-term abortions, with some exceptions. Carson criticized Clinton for being "OK" with abortions of "those babies, fully formed, capable of actually living outside of the womb, with limbs and head torn off."

Carson endorsed Greitens before the Aug. 2 primary and said the gubernatorial nominee needed to continue talking about "the financial foundation of this nation and how we're putting the quality of life issues for subsequent generations at tremendous risk. He needs to talk about the implications of our immigration policy."

"As you know, he has had a transition in his thinking, went from a relatively liberal mindset to a solidly conservative mindset," Carson said of Greitens, who used to be a Democrat. The neurosurgeon said the former Navy SEAL and nonprofit founder needed to continue telling people he was a conservative ahead of his Nov. 8 electoral clash with Democratic Attorney General Chris Koster.

During his symposium speech, Carson characterized "the transgender stuff" as "absurd" and said it was "the same silliness as safe spaces" on college campuses.

Carson told a polite and enthusiastic crowd not to be deterred by people who don't share their values. He offered as an example Colin Kaepernick, the NFL quarterback who made waves by not standing for the national anthem.

"They're not bad people, they just don't understand who we are as a nation, and they are indoctrinated early on to think about all the bad things that have happened in this country," Carson said. "You know, slavery, Japanese concentration camps, Jim Crow. Those things happened because the country is inhabited by human beings, and human beings are not perfect.

"But our flag does not represent that. Our flag represents all the wonderful things that cause people to want to come to America and not leave America."

Religious freedom is "incredibly important," Carson told the crowd, "because it was about us being to lead our lives according to our beliefs, without interference from the government or anyone else."

Carson touched on topics including race and how his career as a neurosurgeon has informed his beliefs on abortion.

"Our God does not care what color you are," Carson said to the applause of the crowd. "The fact that we are different colors indicates that God is a very wonderful and gracious individual, because can you imagine how boring we would be if everybody looked exactly like you?"

Carson, who is black, noted that "some people want to make a problem out of (race), and I think they need to reexamine their selves."

He went on to illustrate his anti-abortion beliefs by recalling his wife met a young woman whom Carson operated on when she was a fetus. "You'll never convince me that what's in a woman's uterus is a meaningless bunch of cells."

Carson's message was one of reinforcement and resistance for conservatives who feel their way of life is under siege.

"Particularly, the secular progressives do everything they can to frighten us, because they want you to sit down and shut up," Carson said. "They don't care whether you agree with them or not, and I say it's time to stand up and shout out."

Mature discussion should be sought when it comes to divisive subjects, Carson said, describing a pleasant sounding disagreement he had with a scientist about whether the universe was created by God or in the Big Bang.

"Rather than calling people names, trying to ruin their lives, trying to ruin their careers because somebody doesn't agree with you," Carson said. "That's not the American way. That is the way of communists, socialists and Sharia, and this is not what America was ever meant to be."

Speaking before Carson was Mark David Hall, a professor of politics at George Fox University, who stressed that the country's founders felt that religion was important to a moral nation. The country's motto, adopted in 1956, is "In God We Trust," but Hall said Thomas Jefferson favored a different slogan: "Rebellion to Tyranny Is Obedience to God."