{"id":74410,"date":"2008-11-04T11:43:44","date_gmt":"2008-11-04T16:43:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/2008\/11\/04\/religion-and-politics-08-ron-paul\/"},"modified":"2024-04-14T04:13:51","modified_gmt":"2024-04-14T09:13:51","slug":"religion-and-politics-08-ron-paul","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/religion\/2008\/11\/04\/religion-and-politics-08-ron-paul\/","title":{"rendered":"Religion and Politics \u201908: Ron Paul"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"paul(1)\"<\/figure>\n\n

Background<\/h2>\n\n
\n

Hometown<\/strong>\nGreen Tree, Pa.<\/p>\n

Age<\/strong>\n74<\/p>\n

Religion<\/strong>\nBaptist<\/p>\n

Education<\/strong>\nDuke University School of Medicine, M.D., 1961\nGettysburg College, B.A., 1957<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

\n

Candidate Website<\/strong>\nwww.ronpaul2008.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Candidacy Status<\/strong>\nFormally declared candidacy March 12, 2007\nFormally withdrew candidacy June 12, 2008<\/p>\n

Political Experience<\/strong>\nU.S. Representative from Texas, 1976-1977, 1979-1985, 1997-present<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

\n

Professional Experience<\/strong>\nFounder and honorary chairman, Foundation for Rational Economics and Education, 1979-present\nObstetrician and gynecologist, private practice, 1968-1996\nFlight surgeon, U.S. Air National Guard, 1965-1968\nFlight surgeon and captain, U.S. Air Force, 1963-1965<\/p>\n

Family Information<\/strong>\nSpouse: Carol Wells Paul\nChildren: Ronald Paul Jr., Lori Pyeatt, Randall “Rand” Paul, Robert Paul and Joy Paul-LeBlanc<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

<\/div>\n\n

Religious Biography<\/h2>\n\n
\n

In His Own Words<\/strong><\/p>\n

“I have never been one who is comfortable talking about my faith in the political arena. In fact, the pandering that typically occurs in the election season I find to be distasteful. But for those who have asked, I freely confess that Jesus Christ is my personal Savior, and that I seek His guidance in all that I do.”\n(The Covenant News<\/em><\/em><\/a>, July 2007)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

The profile you are viewing is from the 2008 presidential race. To see profiles from the 2012 presidential race, please go to\u00a0Religion & Politics 2012<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n

Ron Paul was raised on a dairy farm outside of Pittsburgh. His parents were “pretty devout” Lutherans, according to campaign spokesman Jesse Benton, and as a child, Paul regularly attended\u00a0St. John’s Lutheran Church<\/a>\u00a0in Carnegie, Pa. One of five sons, Paul\u00a0briefly considered becoming a Lutheran minister<\/a>\u00a0like two of his brothers but chose to pursue medicine instead. In 1957, during his senior year at\u00a0Gettysburg College<\/a>\u00a0in Gettysburg, Pa., Paul married Carol Wells at her neighborhood Episcopal church.<\/p>\n\n

All five of the couple’s children were baptized as Episcopalians, but Paul told a reporter at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review that he and his wife “became less comfortable with the Episcopal Church as time went on.” They now attend services “several times each year” at the\u00a0First Baptist Church of Lake Jackson, Texas<\/a>, according to a pastor at the church, where Paul’s eldest daughter and her family are members.<\/p>\n\n

According to Benton, Paul feels the “greatest affinity right now” with the Baptist denomination and identifies himself as a Baptist, though he is not a formal member of a local church. In the past, Paul has identified himself simply as “Protestant” but is now saying “as a matter of clarification” that he is a Baptist, according to Benton.<\/p>\n\n

If elected president, Paul would be the fifth Baptist to hold the office.<\/p>\n\n

On The Issues<\/h2>\n\n

[with]<\/p>\n\n\n

Church and State\u00a0<\/strong>In a 2003 blog post, Paul\u00a0wrote<\/a>\u00a0that the Founding Fathers “envisioned a robustly Christian yet religiously tolerant America, with churches serving as vital institutions that would eclipse the state in importance.” In 2002, Paul\u00a0introduced legislation<\/a>\u00a0that would,\u00a0in his words<\/a>, “restore First Amendment protections of religion and speech by removing all religious freedom-related cases from federal district court jurisdiction.” Two months after 9\/11, Paul was one of only three Republicans to\u00a0vote against<\/a>\u00a0a sense-of-the-Congress resolution encouraging schools to set aside time for prayer or private reflection.\u00a0Compare McCain and Obama<\/a><\/p>\n\n

Death Penalty\u00a0<\/strong>Paul opposes the death penalty and would vote against it in “any legislative body he was a member of,” according to campaign spokesman Jesse Benton. In 2005, Paul\u00a0praised<\/a>\u00a0the late Pope John Paul II for being an “eloquent and consistent advocate for an ethic of life, exemplified by his struggles against abortion, war, euthanasia and the death penalty.”Compare McCain and Obama<\/a><\/p>\n\n

Education\u00a0<\/strong>Asked during a May 2007 GOP debate for three “wasteful” federal programs he would eliminate, Paul\u00a0named<\/a>\u00a0the Department of Education first. In June 2007, however, he\u00a0criticized<\/a>\u00a0the war in Iraq for sucking up federal funds needed for education and other priorities. Although Paul\u00a0says<\/a>\u00a0he sympathizes with individuals who call for school vouchers \u2013 and he supports the right of states and local government to implement such programs \u2013 he objects to a federal voucher program because it would lead to “increased government control of private education.”\u00a0Compare McCain and Obama<\/a><\/p>\n\n

Environment\u00a0<\/strong>In a March 2007 TV interview, Paul\u00a0said<\/a>\u00a0that “there are reputable scientists on both sides” of the global warming debate. He objects to federal subsidies for oil companies and believes that U.S. foreign policy “contributes to global warming” because “we’re in the Middle East to protect oil interests.” Paul\u00a0endorses<\/a>\u00a0a private-property approach to environmental preservation, saying, “You do not have the right to pollute your neighbor’s property.”\u00a0Compare McCain and Obama<\/a><\/p>\n\n

Faith-Based Initiatives\u00a0<\/strong>In a 2003 statement, Paul derisively\u00a0labeled<\/a>\u00a0President Bush’s\u00a0faith-based initiative<\/a>\u00a0“a neocon project” that “repackages and expands the liberal notion of welfare.” In 2001, he\u00a0proposed<\/a>legislation to “amend” the faith-based initiative by offering a tax credit for private donations to faith-based organizations that provide social services. “Churches should not become entangled with government subsidies and programs because truly independent religious institutions are critical to a free society,” he said.\u00a0Compare McCain and Obama<\/a><\/p>\n\n

Gay Marriage\u00a0<\/strong>Paul writes that while he opposes states being “forced” to accept same-sex marriage, he alsoopposes<\/a>\u00a0a constitutional amendment that would prohibit gay marriage on the grounds that it would be a “major usurpation of the states’ power.” Paul\u00a0described<\/a>\u00a0the current military “don’t ask don’t tell” policy as a “decent” one, saying that disruptive sexual behavior of any kind should be dealt with: “We don’t get our rights because we’re gays or women or minorities. We get our rights from our creator as individuals. So every individual should be treated the same way.”\u00a0Compare McCain and Obama<\/a><\/p>\n\n

Health Care\u00a0<\/strong>In 2006, Paul\u00a0wrote<\/a>\u00a0that “the problems with our health care system are not the result of too little government intervention but, rather, too much.” The solutions, he argued, lie in allowing individuals to deduct from their taxes all of their health care costs, as businesses do, and in promoting “true competition” in the market for health care provisions. Paul has also\u00a0supported legislation<\/a>permitting individuals to buy “negative outcome” insurance before major medical treatments in order to reduce “the burden of costly malpractice litigation.”\u00a0Compare McCain and Obama<\/a><\/p>\n\n

Immigration\u00a0<\/strong>In a June 2007 debate Paul\u00a0asserted<\/a>\u00a0that he is “positively opposed” to amnesty and that the U.S. must stop encouraging illegal immigration by providing health care services for illegal immigrants. According to his campaign website, Paul\u00a0believes<\/a>\u00a0that while physically securing borders and coastlines is a top priority, existing laws must be enforced and “taxpayers should not pay for illegal immigrants who use hospitals, clinics, schools, roads and social services.” In 2006, hevoted<\/a>\u00a0for legislation to erect a fence along stretches of the U.S.-Mexico border.\u00a0Compare McCain and Obama<\/a><\/p>\n\n

Iraq War\u00a0<\/strong>Paul has objected to the war in Iraq for having been “sold to us with false information<\/a>,” being fiscally irresponsible and lacking both a\u00a0congressional declaration of war<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0moral justification<\/a>. He has\u00a0introduced legislation\u00a0<\/a>to revoke the president’s authority to wage war in Iraq and favors a “clear decision to leave<\/a>.” Referring to the Iraqi government, Paul\u00a0said<\/a>\u00a0that “the biggest incentive for them to take upon themselves the responsibility is just for us to leave.”\u00a0Compare McCain and Obama<\/a><\/p>\n\n

Poverty\u00a0<\/strong>In May 2007, Paul\u00a0asserted<\/a>\u00a0that “subsidies and welfare” only provide poor people with “crumbs,” while “the military-industrial complex and the big banks” receive “the real big welfare,” further impoverishing the middle class and the poor. Paul opposes foreign aid,\u00a0writing<\/a>\u00a0that “the redistribution of wealth from rich to poor nations has done little or nothing to alleviate suffering abroad. Only free markets, property rights, and the rule of law can create the conditions necessary to lift poor nations out of poverty.”\u00a0Compare McCain and Obama<\/a><\/p>\n\n

Stem Cell Research\u00a0<\/strong>Paul backed President Bush’s veto of congressional legislation to expand federal funding for non-embryonic stem cell research,\u00a0saying<\/a>\u00a0he doesn’t oppose such research but objects to federal funding for it. The founding fathers, Paul also wrote, “intended to keep issues such as embryonic stem cell research entirely out of Washington’s hands.”\u00a0Compare McCain and Obama<\/a><\/p>\n\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Background Hometown Green Tree, Pa. Age 74 Religion Baptist Education Duke University School of Medicine, M.D., 1961 Gettysburg College, B.A., 1957 Candidate Website www.ronpaul2008.com Candidacy Status Formally declared candidacy March 12, 2007 Formally withdrew candidacy June 12, 2008 Political Experience U.S. Representative from Texas, 1976-1977, 1979-1985, 1997-present Professional Experience Founder and honorary chairman, Foundation for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":139,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sub_headline":"","sub_title":"","_prc_public_revisions":[],"_ppp_expiration_hours":0,"_ppp_enabled":false,"ai_generated_summary":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"relatedPosts":[],"reportMaterials":[],"multiSectionReport":[],"package_parts__enabled":false,"package_parts":[],"datacite_doi":"","datacite_doi_citation":"","_prc_seo_qr_attachment_id":0,"spoken_article_player_enabled":true,"displayBylines":false,"footnotes":"","prc_watchers":[],"_prc_fork_parent":0,"_prc_fork_status":"","_prc_active_fork":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[46,24,39],"tags":[],"bylines":[],"collection":[],"datasets":[],"level_of_effort":[],"primary_audience":[],"information_type":[],"_post_visibility":[],"formats":[458],"_fund_pool":[],"languages":[],"regions-countries":[],"research-teams":[517],"workflow-status":[],"class_list":["post-74410","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-election-2008","category-religion","category-us-elections-voters","formats-report","research-teams-religion"],"label":false,"post_parent":0,"word_count":1331,"canonical_url":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/religion\/2008\/11\/04\/religion-and-politics-08-ron-paul\/","art_direction":false,"_embeds":[],"watchers":[],"table_of_contents":[],"report_materials":"","report_pagination":{"current_post":null,"next_post":null,"previous_post":null,"pagination_items":[]},"parent_info":{"parent_title":"Religion and Politics \u201908: Ron Paul","parent_id":74410},"materialsOrdered":[],"chaptersOrdered":[],"partsOrdered":[],"partsEnabled":false,"datacite_doi":"","prc_seo_data":{"title":"Religion and Politics \u201908: Ron Paul","description":"Background Hometown Green Tree, Pa. Age 74 Religion Baptist Education Duke University School of Medicine, M.D., 1961 Gettysburg College, B.A., 1957 Candidate Website www.ronpaul2008.com Candidacy Status Formally declared candidacy March…","og_title":"Religion and Politics \u201908: Ron Paul","og_description":"","schema_type":"Article","noindex":false,"canonical_url":"","primary_terms":[],"custom_schema":[],"og_image":0,"indexnow_submitted_at":null,"gsc_index_status":null},"prepublish_checks":{"prc-image-alt-text":{"status":"complete","message":"All images have alt text.","data":null},"prc-about-this-research":{"status":"incomplete","message":"Add an \"About this research\" details block.","data":null},"prc-paragraph-count":{"status":"complete","message":"Found 16 paragraphs.","data":{"count":16}},"prc-internal-link":{"status":"complete","message":"Found 11 internal links.","data":{"count":11}}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"relatedPostsOrdered":[],"bylinesOrdered":[{"key":"f4efdca8-1064-418f-9347-ad9eed684ad7","termId":921}],"acknowledgementsOrdered":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74410","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/139"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74410"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74410\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":132998,"href":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74410\/revisions\/132998"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74410"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74410"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74410"},{"taxonomy":"bylines","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bylines?post=74410"},{"taxonomy":"collection","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/collection?post=74410"},{"taxonomy":"datasets","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/datasets?post=74410"},{"taxonomy":"level_of_effort","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/level_of_effort?post=74410"},{"taxonomy":"primary_audience","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/primary_audience?post=74410"},{"taxonomy":"information_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/information_type?post=74410"},{"taxonomy":"_post_visibility","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/_post_visibility?post=74410"},{"taxonomy":"formats","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/formats?post=74410"},{"taxonomy":"_fund_pool","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/_fund_pool?post=74410"},{"taxonomy":"languages","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/languages?post=74410"},{"taxonomy":"regions-countries","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/regions-countries?post=74410"},{"taxonomy":"research-teams","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/research-teams?post=74410"},{"taxonomy":"workflow-status","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/workflow-status?post=74410"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}