Republican presidential candidate and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, a noted creationist, once said those who believe in evolution "dismiss ethics" and believe you don't have to abide by a moral code.

"Ultimately, if you accept the evolutionary theory, you dismiss ethics, you don't have to abide by a set of moral codes, you determine your own conscience based on your own desires," Carson told Adventist Review, the magazine of the Seventh-day Adventist Church of which Carson is a member for a 2004 cover story.

The interview can be read online via the Web Archive, which archives webpages.

"You have no reason for things such as selfless love, when a father dives in to save his son from drowning," Carson continued. "You can trash the Bible as irrelevant, just silly fables, since you believe that it does not conform to scientific thought. You can be like Lucifer, who said, 'I will make myself like the Most High.'"

BuzzFeed News reported last week that Carson in a 2012 speech said the big bang theory was part of the "fairy tales" pushed by "highfalutin scientists" as a story of creation and he believed the theory of evolution was encouraged by the devil.

"Can you prove evolution? No. Can you prove creation? No. Can you use the intellect God has given you to decide whether something is logical or illogical," added. Carson. "Yes, absolutely. It all comes down to 'faith' — and I don't have enough to believe in evolution. I'm too logical!"

Carson said the consequences for accepting the theory of evolution would be an abandonment of the human moral compass.

"By believing we are the product of random acts, we eliminate morality and the basis of ethical behavior," stated Carson. "For if there is no such thing as moral authority, you can do anything you want. You make everything relative, and there's no reason for any of our higher values."

Similarly, Carson said it was impossible to believe in God and evolution.

"Yes, in my education I had to learn evolutionary theories, and as a God-fearing Christian I wondered how to make God and evolution mesh," said Carson. "The truth is that you can't make them mesh — you have to choose one or the other."