Republican presidential candidates Friday derided the Paris attacks on Friday, with Jeb Bush calling them a war on the West and Ben Carson saying that Syrian refugees should be barred entry into the United States.
"This is a war being created by Islamic terrorists," the former Florida governor told conservative radio talk-show host Hugh Hewitt in an interview at the Florida Republican Party's Sunshine Summit in Orlando. "This is an organized effort to destroy Western civilization.
"We need to lead in this regard," Bush said. "This is the war of our time."
The more than 1,000 attendees to the summit, which ends Saturday, stood and bowed their heads for a moment of silence for the Paris victims. Candidates offered their prayers.
Carson, the retired pediatric neurosurgeon, told reporters that the Paris violence "reminds us that there are those out there who have a thirst for innocent blood in an attempt to spread their philosophy and their will across this globe.
"We must redouble our efforts and our resolve to resist them, not only to contain them, but to eliminate that kind of hatred in the world," he said.
Carson said refugees from the conflict in Syria and Iraq should not be allowed into the United States.
French President Francois Hollande closed the country's borders in declaring a national emergency in response to the bomb and gun attacks.
"To bring them here when we have tens of millions of people who are suffering economically doesn't make any economic sense," Carson said.
Other candidates, from both parties, took to Twitter to ask for prayers:
Other political and religious leaders also called for healing:
Reuters contributed to this report.
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