Herman Cain said Sunday that Americans should be able to ban Muslims from building mosques in their communities.
"Our Constitution guarantees the separation of church and state," Cain said in an interview with Chris Wallace on “Fox News Sunday.” "Islam combines church and state. They're using the church part of our First Amendment to infuse their morals in that community, and the people of that community do not like it. They disagree with it."
Last week, the Republican presidential candidate expressed criticism of a planned mosque in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, telling reporters at a campaign event that "This is just another way to try to gradually sneak Sharia law into our laws, and I absolutely object to that."
“This isn't an innocent mosque," Cain said.
On “Fox News Sunday,” Wallace pressed him about those comments.
"Let's go back to the fundamental issue," Cain said. "Islam is both a religion and a set of laws -- Sharia laws. That's the difference between any one of our traditional religions where it's just about religious purposes."
"So, you're saying that any community, if they want to ban a mosque..." Wallace began.
"Yes, they have the right to do that," Cain said.
Cain has made a number of controversial comments about Muslims, including a vow to be cautious about allowing a Muslim to serve in his administration.
On Sunday, Cain defended his position, telling Wallace that it's not discrimination.
"Aren't you willing to restrict people because of their religion?" Wallace asked.
"I'm willing to take a harder look at people who might be terrorists, that's what I'm saying," Cain replied. "Look, I know that there's a peaceful group of Muslims in this country. God bless them and they're free to worship. If you look at my career I have never discriminated against anybody, because of their religion, sex or origin or anything like that."
"I'm simply saying I owe it to the American people to be cautious because terrorists are trying to kill us," Cain said, "so yes I'm going to err on the side of caution rather than on the side of carelessness."