Herman Cain: Muslims Have An Objective To 'Kill' Or 'Convert' All Infidels

Potential GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain made controversial remarks about Muslims in an interview on Monday, suggesting that followers of Islam were driven by an objective to "kill" or "convert" others.

Here's an excerpt of the wide-ranging exchange Cain had with Christianity Today:

The role of Muslims in American society is for them to be allowed to practice their religion freely, which is part of our First Amendment. The role of Muslims in America is not to convert the rest of us to the Muslim religion. That I resent. Because we are a Judeo-Christian nation, from the fact that 85 percent of us are self-described Christians, or evangelicals, or practicing the Jewish faith. Eighty-five percent. One percent of the practicing religious believers in this country are Muslim.

And so I push back and reject them trying to convert the rest of us. And based upon the little knowledge that I have of the Muslim religion, you know, they have an objective to convert all infidels or kill them. Now, I know that there are some peaceful Muslims who don't go around preaching or practicing that. Well, unfortunately, we can't sit back and tolerate the radical ones simply because we know that there are some of them who don't believe in that aspect of the Muslim religion. So their role is to be allowed to practice their religion freely, just like we should be allowed to practice our religion freely, and not try to convert the rest of us.

Cain is the former CEO of Godfather's Pizza, an associate Baptist minister at an Atlanta-area church, and one of the few likely Republican candidates to have formed an exploratory committee for a possible White House run. Cain also delved into religious issues last week, when he criticized President Obama for not invoking God more frequently in public speeches.