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U.S. NEWSFriday 6 November 2015
Carson: Pyramids in Egypt built by Biblical figure Joseph
JESSE J. HOLLAND Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson smiles during a campaign rally at West Memphis mediator.”
BILL BARROW High School, in West Memphis, Ark. Daniel Weber, a spokes-
Associated Press man for the Seventh-day
MIAMI (AP) — Republican (Nikki Boertman/The Commercial Appeal via AP) Adventist Church, said Car-
presidential candidate Ben son’s belief about the pyra-
Carson on Thursday stood ditional Republican can- He has garnered attention in biblical archaeology at mids are “his own interpre-
by his belief that Egypt’s didates in the polls, as he previously for stating that, the University of North Car- tation.”
great pyramids were built taps into the frustration that despite his scientific train- olina-Chapel Hill, said she “Of course, we believe
by the Biblical figure Jo- many rank-and-file Repub- ing as a neurosurgeon, he knows of no scholar or ar- in the biblical account of
seph to store grain — not as licans have with estab- rejects evolutionary biolo- chaeologist who questions Joseph and the famine,”
tombs for pharaohs. lishment politicians. With gy. Beyond matters of faith, that the pyramids were Weber said. “But I’ve never
Carson is a retired surgeon primary voting still three Carson has equated both used as royal tombs. heard the idea that pyra-
who has unexpectedly ris- months away, however, abortion and President “This is not an academic mids were storehouses of
en to the top of the Repub- the Republican presiden- Barack Obama’s signature topic of debate,” Magness grain.”
lican primary race in some tial field remains crowded health care program to said in an email. “The use of Carson said in 1998 that
polls. and unpredictable. On the slavery. He has compared the pyramids as tombs is the “hermetically sealed”
Video posted online Democratic side, in con- the zeal of Islamic State verified by both written (lit- chambers found in the pyr-
Wednesday by Buzzfeed trast, Hillary Rodham Clin- militants to that of Ameri- erary) sources and archae- amids “would have to be
News shows Carson ex- ton has swiftly consolidat- can revolutionary patriots ological evidence.” that way” to store grain.
plaining his theory 17 years ed her status as the over- and suggested that the Ho- The pyramids were built Trump has suggested that
ago at a Michigan college whelming favorite for her locaust may not have oc- with narrow, secret passag- Carson’s religious beliefs
affiliated with his Seventh- party’s nomination. curred had European Jews es intended to foil grave- put him outside main-
day Adventist Church. A first-time political candi- been better armed against robbers, making the struc- stream American Christi-
In the video, Carson says: date, Carson has a pen- the Nazis. tures unsuitable for grain anity. At one October rally
“My own personal theory is chant for headline-grab- It’s not immediately clear storage, Magness said. And in Florida, Trump called his
that Joseph built the pyra- bing statements. that Carson’s church or the design of the pyramids, own Presbyterian church
mids in order to store grain.” He speaks often about his any other major Jewish or with associated temples, “middle of the road” be-
He was referring to the Old faith and has written ex- Christian sect shares his “reflects the ancient Egyp- fore adding, “I mean, Sev-
Testament story of Joseph tensively about his beliefs belief about the pyramids’ tian concept of the cos- enth-day Adventist, I don’t
predicting famine and ad- in books. His popularity origins. Carson has not mos, according to which know about.”
vising the pharaoh to store among evangelical Chris- claimed that his theory is the king or pharaoh was at In an interview with the As-
surplus food. He said that’s tian voters has helped fuel supported by the tenets of the center of a unified king- sociated Press, conducted
more likely than the ac- his rise in the Republican his church. dom, serving as a god, a after Trump’s remarks, Car-
cepted archaeological primary. Jodi Magness, a specialist political ruler and a divine son said he expects in poli-
conclusion that the mas- tics to have his religious af-
sive structures were built as filiation questioned, but he
tombs for pharaohs. defended his faith and his
At a book signing Thursday church. “There are a lot of
in Florida, Carson stood by people who have a close
his statement on the grain relationship with God, and
storage. you can generally tell who
“Some people believe in they are by the way they
the Bible like I do and don’t act, the way they treat
find that to be silly at all, other people,” he told AP.
and believe that God cre- “The reason that there are
ated the earth and don’t like 4,000 denominations is
find that to be silly at all,” that people have looked
Carson said. “The secular at this and said, ‘Let’s inter-
progressives try to ridicule pret it this way. Let’s inter-
it every time it comes up pret it this way.’
and they’re welcome to “Sometimes they get
do that.” caught up in that and for-
Along with billionaire Don- get about the real pur-
ald Trump, Carson has pose of Christian faith,” he
surged passed more tra- concluded.q
