Carson: Voters should be ready for "propaganda" in 2016
LYNCHBURG, Va. -- Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson told students at a Christian college in Virginia Wednesday that they must be on guard for "propaganda" as they mull their votes in 2016.
A day after the fourth GOP primary debate, Carson told about 12,000 people at Liberty University on Wednesday that "many in the media want to bring me down, because I represent something that they can't stand."
Carson's appearance at Liberty comes after a week of reports questioning various parts of the personal narrative that has helped propel Carson to the forefront of the Republican primary field.
He asked students to pray for "wisdom" for his family and "for the eyes of the nation to be opened to what's going on."
Evangelical Christians are a key part of Carson's support.
Carson told students that God gave Americans their "unalienable rights" and argued that people are trying to take religion away.
"We have so many people now who are trying to push God out of our lives," he said. "They take the word of God and they try to negate it."
During a question-and-answer session after Carson's speech, he was asked how he would govern in a society where traditional values like marriage are a minority view.
He said Congress has been "acting like the peanut gallery" and that the executive and judicial branches are "overstepping their boundaries."
"Specifically we need legislation to protect the religious freedoms of people who believe marriage is between one man and one woman," he said.
Asked if he had advice for college students, he said, "My advice would be proverbs 3:5--6," and began reading the prayer, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight."
Carson said he has clung to that prayer "through all kinds of adversity" in his life.