Ben Carson: My Denomination Should Ordain Women

Republican presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson leaves a breakfast at the Alpha Gamma Roh fraternity at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa, on October 24, 2015.

Seventh-day Adventists voted earlier this year to block the approval of women to be ordained in the denomination, a decision Dr. Ben Carson says he disagrees with.

During an interview with The Associated Press on Friday, the retired neurosurgeon opened up about his membership in the relatively new Protestant denomination founded in 1863.

“I don’t see any reason why women can’t be ordained,” Carson said, adding that July’s vote which barred female ordination was “a huge mistake.”

The denomination voted 1,381 to 977 during their 60th General Conference Session meeting in San Antonio, Texas, against allowing female clergy. More theologically conservative Seventh-day Adventists from Africa and Latin America played a critical outcome in preserving the historically traditional view.

Many Christian traditions and denominations still require ministers and pastors to be male, including Southern Baptists, the largest Protestant denomination in the United States.