More news from the Ron Paul Campaign

ANKENY, Iowa - 2012 Republican Presidential candidate Ron Paul received today the endorsement of a Christian pastor from Pella, Marion County.

The Rev. Brian D. Nolder, pastor of Christ the Redeemer Church, wrote a thoughtful endorsement of the 12-term Congressman from Texas, discussing his evolution from a Paul observer to Paul supporter.  In the letter, he discusses the merits of Dr. Paul's domestic and foreign policy positions and how they comport with Christianity as the Rev. understands it.

"We are pleased to have Rev. Nolder's endorsement and thank him for the many compliments he pays Ron Paul in his letter of support.  Rev. Nolder's endorsement and others like it are what make a strong top-three showing in the Iowa caucus more likely," said Ron Paul 2012 Iowa Chairman Drew Ivers.

In making his endorsement, Rev. Nolder mentioned that he was doing so as a private citizen and not on behalf of Christ the Redeemer Church or its congregants.

Mike Heath, Iowa State Director for the Ron Paul 2012 campaign, is visiting Christian churches across Iowa to do outreach and discuss Ron Paul's candidacy.  To date, Heath has visited 295 houses of worship across the state toward that end.  Heath is an ordained Christian minister.

If ministering in Iowa, local pastors interested in discussing an endorsement are invited to email the Iowa Director of Voter Outreach, Meghann Walker, at meghannw@ronpaul2012.com.

The full text of Rev. Nolder's letter of support follows.

Statement from the Rev. Brian D. Nolder

I write this to indicate my support and endorsement for Ron Paul for President in 2012.  Even though I am a Christian pastor, my endorsement comes as a private citizen and does not indicate any endorsement by the church I serve.  But my endorsement is motivated by Christian convictions, and I could not support someone whom I did not believe embodied those convictions in his policies, positions and character.

The idea of supporting Dr. Paul is pretty new to me.  But the interest of many colleagues in my denomination (the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches; www.crechurches.org) in Dr. Paul, as well as the support of my former pastor, caused me to take a close look at the man and his ideas.  Though they seem radical and out of the mainstream at first, careful study will show that they actually reflect the conservatism of our nation's founding fathers, our founding documents, and the first decades of our history.  More importantly, they reflect biblical principles.

I support Dr. Paul because he wants people to be liberated from state dependence (perpetuated by a massive welfare state) and returned to dependence on God-through hard work, entrepreneurship, and enjoying the fruits of one's labor-and assistance from families, local communities, churches, and other private, charitable organizations.  He has the most concrete plan to shrink the Leviathan of federal government, and he has the track record to show that he will do what he says.  He wants to do exactly what the Constitution is designed to do, but which we have been moving away from for the past century: restrain the scope and size of government, particularly at the federal level.  As a patriotic American who loves his country, it pains me to say that I have the growing sense that Uncle Sam-executive, legislative, and judicial-is more of an existential threat than Iran or any other foreign power is.  Dr. Paul can help us reverse this trend.

As a Christian, I am also very concerned about the issue of human life, since each of us is uniquely made in the image of God.  Dr. Paul has always been pro-life, refusing to practice abortions throughout his long career as an OB-GYN.  He has written a book on the subject, and he signed the recently promulgated "personhood pledge" (www.personhoodusa.com), further indicating his support to use constitutional means to guarantee life and liberty to all people, even to the unborn.

Respect for life must not only extend to the unborn within our own land, but also to all people everywhere.  I am concerned that our country has moved further and further away from the "just war" principles of the Christian tradition that used to inform so much of our foreign policy.  While I am no pacifist, I am increasingly concerned about how quickly we seem to be resorting to violence to resolve international conflicts, and whether the "wars" we have recently been engaged in are truly just.  Dr. Paul promises to return us to the modest, humble foreign policy that Gov. Bush articulated in the 2000 campaign.  (This must be one of the reasons Dr. Paul receives more contributions from military servicemen and women than all other candidates combined.)

I don't necessarily agree with every position Dr. Paul has, nor every vote that he has cast in Congress.  But what voter ever has the "perfect" candidate?  More importantly, the positives of his stated positions, goals and aspirations-and esp. his overall governing philosophy-far outweigh whatever small disagreements I may have with him.

For further insight into why I as a Christian leader have chosen to support Dr. Paul, I invite people to read this article: http://stevedeace.com/news/iowa-politics/the-case-for-ron-paul-2/, or check out the Facebook group, Christians for Ron Paul 2012.

The Rev. Brian D. Nolder
Pella, IA

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