Should Christians vote for Ron Paul?

As more and more Americans begin to pay attention to the upcoming presidential election, and with the announcement that republican congressman Ron Paul has received over $5 million dollars of donations for the third quarter of 2007, more and more people are beginning to ask “Who is Ron Paul”? My goal with this article is to shine a light on Ron Paul’s beliefs and to show why, of all of the candidates running for president, his views line up most accurately with Christian principles and the Christian world view. I am going to list my top 5 issues that relate to the Christian world view, broken down into two blog posts as it would be quite a long post if I did it all at once.

1. To start things off, there are several “requirements” that a majority of evangelical Christians have for a presidential candidate. The first issue that many Christians use to qualify candidates for office is abortion. Ron Paul personally believes in the right to life for all. This value for life includes unborn children. Ron Paul has actually authored legislation to define life as beginning at conception and is the prime sponsor of a bill that would negate the effect of Roe v. Wade. Here is an excerpt from his website: “In 40 years of medical practice, I never once considered performing an abortion, nor did I ever find abortion necessary to save the life of a pregnant woman. In Congress, I have authored legislation that seeks to define life as beginning at conception, HR 1094. I am also the prime sponsor of HR 300, which would negate the effect of Roe v Wade by removing the ability of federal courts to interfere with state legislation to protect life. This is a practical, direct approach to ending federal court tyranny which threatens our constitutional republic and has caused the deaths of 45 million of the unborn. I have also authored HR 1095, which prevents federal funds to be used for so-called ‘population control.’ Many talk about being pro-life. I have taken direct action to restore protection for the unborn.” I hope that is clear enough to assure those who oppose abortion that Ron Paul is on their side!

2. The second question on the list is typically “Is the candidate a Christian?” Again, in his own words: “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. I know, as you do, that our freedoms come not from man, but from God. My record of public service reflects my reverence for the Natural Rights with which we have been endowed by a loving Creator.” I believe this is a fairly self-explanitory statement of Dr. Paul’s spiritual beliefs.

3. The War. I have to say that I, along with most Christians, supported the call for war in Iraq. As I think now about war, I have to say that I am stunned that I felt like going to war in Iraq was the right thing to do. PLEASE DON’T STOP READING HERE!! Let me explain. The Christian position on war over the last 1600 years has been fairly strictly aligned with the Just War Theory. The writings of St. Augustine helped formulate the Christian theory of just war. To get to the very basics of this theory, there are several requirements that must be met in order for a war to be considered. They are:
1. Just cause - The reason for going to war needs to be just and can therefore be recapturing things taken or punishing people who have done wrong.
2. Comparative justice - While there may be rights and wrongs on all sides of a conflict, to override the presumption against the use of force, the injustice suffered by one party must significantly outweigh that suffered by the other.
3. Legitimate authority - Only duly constituted public authorities may use deadly force or wage war
4. Right intention - Force may be used only in a truly just cause and solely for that purpose—correcting a suffered wrong is considered a right intention, while material gain or maintaining economies is not.
5. Probability of success - Arms may not be used in a futile cause or in a case where disproportionate measures are required to achieve success;
6. Last resort - Force may be used only after all peaceful and viable alternatives have been seriously tried and exhausted.
Ron Paul voted for the use of force in Afganistan in order to find and punish the perpetrators of the 9/11 attacks, but he did not vote for the Iraq war. Why? September 4th, 2002 Congressman Paul gave a speech in Congress titled “Arguments Against a War in Iraq”. I urge you to read the entire speech, which reviews military, budgetary, and economic issues among others things, but I will include here his final paragraph: “Finally, there is a compelling moral argument against war in Iraq. Military force is justified only in self-defense; naked aggression is the province of dictators and rogue states. This is the danger of a new "preemptive first strike" doctrine. America is the most moral nation on earth, founded on moral principles, and we must apply moral principles when deciding to use military force.” I truly believe this should be the Christian stance on the war.

Part 2

Update: Added link for Part 2.

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Don’t judge Ron Paul by what you hear. Check out his website, http://ronpaul2008.com/, and the Ron Paul Library website, http://ronpaullibrary.com/, which contains documents on his position on pretty much any issue you can think of. Do some research and find out if he may be worth your vote. He is certainly worth mine.