Republican presidential hopeful Ben Carson had no easy answer when he was bluntly asked on national television: which guides America's government – the Bible or the Constitution?
The question was fed to "Meet the Press" host Chuck Todd by a Facebook poster, and posed to Carson this way: "[Here's a] simple question. Does the Bible have authority over the Constitution?"
(Carson's comments on the subject come at the 11:00 mark in the following video:)
Carson, a devout Seventh-day Adventist whose line of work, prior to seeking the White House, was as a neurosurgeon, paused a bit and then said: "That is not a simple question," the NBC video showed.
He then said he couldn't really answer without having a more specific scenario to address.
"I think probably what you have to do is ask a specific question about a specific passage of the Bible and a specific portion of the Constitution," he said. "I don't think you can answer that question other than out of very specific context."