Dr. Ben Carson appeared on CNN's Late Night with Abby Philip to discuss Louisiana putting the Ten Commandments in classrooms, which CNN thinks is wildly controversial and objectionable. Phillip eventually asked Carson why Trump favors this policy when "he doesn't even try to follow" the commandments. Carson turned to the promotion of Pride Month in schools. Phillip wanted to avoid that topic entirely.
Phillip wanted to stick to putting Carson on the defensive, insisting many people object to any government putting a "thumb on the scale" for Christianity, asking Carson if they should post the Five Pillars of Islam in schools. (She never mentioned Judaism and Moses.)
Late in the interview, Phillip asked if the Ten Commandments were posted at any of Donald Trump's properties. Carson said he didn't know, and Phillip challenged him: "Shouldn't they be?"
So it was amusing to see Phillip seek to avoid any changing of the subject to Pride promotion in public schools, insisting no state is imposing that (some red states like Tennessee are trying to prevent Pride flags in schools).
PHILLIP: So, speaking of code of conduct, Donald Trump, the former President, he said last night that he loves the Ten Commandments. He says that he loves that they are in public schools and that he urges people to read them. He is holding it up as a moral code, just as you have, as well. But it also seems to be a moral code that he doesn't follow. He doesn't even try to follow. Does that seem right to you?
CARSON: I wonder, does it seem right that people put up codes? I was talking to a young lady a few weeks ago and she said in her school, they're having Pride Day and everybody must agree with it. And you can be expelled if you say something contrary to it or if you don't use the proper pronoun. I wonder if that's kind of a totalitarian attitude to take.
PHILLIP: Well, I mean, I don't even want to get into the pride issue because I think that's a separate topic. The question was about --
CARSON: It's the same kind of issue, though, isn't it?
PHILLIP: Well, where -- are there laws that are forcing people to put up, I don't know, I guess, pride codes of conduct on the walls?
CARSON: They were forcing the kids to comply with that particular --
PHILLIP: Who was "they"?
CARSON: Whether they believed in it or not. And I said, what if you don't believe in it? And she says, you've got to keep your mouth shut.
PHILLIP: But who are you even referring to? Are you talking about the government?
CARSON: A 12-year-old that I was talking to - no, I was talking to a 12-year-old that was what was going on at her school.
PHILLIP: Okay, I'm not sure what you're referring to, but it seems like there's a difference between that and an entire state saying, we need to put up -- we are going to force the classrooms and teachers to put up a tenant [sic] of a particular religion up on the walls.
In promoting Pride flags in schools, the National Education Association has a template "that explicitly says pride flags can be displayed in schools as symbols of diversity, equity, and inclusion; not as political statements." They touted a female using They/Them pronouns declaring “My identity is not political."
They also pretend "the nation’s culture wars spilled into a middle school classroom" when someone objected to Pride flags in the classroom. The "culture war" only begins when the conservatives begin to protest the Left.
