Herman Cain: Communities should be able to ban mosques

Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain said Sunday that any community should be able to ban mosques because there is a big difference between Islam and "our other traditional religions."

Last week, Cain came out again a proposed mosque in Murfreesboro, Tennessee on the grounds that it was an "infringement and an abuse of our freedom of religion."

"They have operated, Muslim worshipers at another site there for more than 20 years," Fox News Chris Wallace noted in an interview with Cain. "What is your objection for them building a new mosque?"

"Our Constitution guarantees separation of church and state," Cain explained. "Islam combines church and state. They are using the church part of our First Amendment to infuse their mosque in that community and people in the community do not like it, they disagree with it. Sharia law is what they are trying to infuse... What I am saying is American laws in American courts."

"Couldn't any community then say we don't want a mosque in our community?" Wallace asked.

"They could say that," Cain admitted. "They are objecting to the fact that Islam is both a religion and set of laws, Sharia law. That is the difference between any one of our other traditional religions where it's just about religious purposes. The people in the community know best. I happen to side with the people in the community."

"You are saying any community if they want to ban a mosque," Wallace pressed.

"Yes, they have the right to do that. That is not discriminating based on religion against their particular religion," Cain insisted.

In March, Cain also used Sharia law as an excuse for saying that he would not appoint a Muslim to his cabinet or as a federal judge.

"No, I will not. And here's why. There is this creeping attempt, there is this attempt to gradually ease Sharia law and the Muslim faith into our government," he said.

Watch this video from Fox News' Fox News Sunday, broadcast July 17, 2011.

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