Rand Paul, the Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, chastised his opponent Democratic state Attorney General Jack Conway for an ad referencing Paul’s time as a student at Baylor University. During yesterday’s Senate debate in Kentucky, Paul said in his closing statements that the race has “turned ugly,” quoting Jesus’s words in Mark 8:36/Matthew 16:26.
Most of you who know me know me as a pro-life Christian … I’m disheartened that my opponent has chosen to attack my religious beliefs. We have serious problems in our country. We have to have a serious discussion. He’s descended into the gutter to attack my Christian beliefs.
…I believe that those who stoop to the level of attacking a man’s religious beliefs to gain higher office, I believe that they should remember that it does not profit a man to gain the world if he loses his soul in the process. If you wish to be considered for higher office, if you wish to enter into the debate, step up, cast aside these attacks on my personal religion. Jack, you should be ashamed. You should apologize. Have you no decency? Have you no shame?
Conway’s ad referenced stories about Paul’s past. “Why was Rand Paul a member of a secret society that called the Holy Bible a ‘hoax’?” the ad’s narrator asks. “Why did Rand Paul once tie a woman up, tell her to bow down before a false idol and say his god was ‘Aqua Buddha’.”
Paul has denied involvement in a kidnapping, saying that he went along with a college prank. Paul was a member of a secret society at Baylor University that published mocking statements about the Bible in newsletters, according to Ben Smith’s Politico.
Paul released a new ad stating that the candidate “keeps Christ in his heart.” It asks, “What kind of man would bear false witness just to win an election?” before showing a photo of Conway.
Conway’s campaign says that the original ad does not question Paul’s faith, according to Greg Sargent of the Washington Post.
Paul, who is the son of Texas Rep. Ron Paul, leads in recent polls. In May, James Dobson switched his endorsement from former Republican candidate Trey Grayson to Paul. Dobson said that “senior members of the GOP” mislead him by saying that Paul was pro-choice. Dobson said that Paul identifies with the tea party and calls him “my kind of man.”
