Ron Paul on teaching evolution

On May 3, 2007, MSNBC hosted a debate for the GOP presidential candidates at the Reagan Library in California. Near the end of the program, moderator Chris Matthews asked the candidates, “I’m curious, is there anybody on the stage that does not agree, believe in evolution?” Three hands went up, one of them belonging, naturally enough, to Mike Huckabee. Ron Paul, however, kept his hand down.

At a November 1 meeting of the Spartanburg (SC) GOP Executive Committee, Ron Paul was asked about this incident:

“Well, at first I thought it was a very inappropriate question, you know, for the presidency to be decided on a scientific matter, and I think it’s a theory, a theory of evolution, and I don’t accept it, you know, as a theory, but I think [ it probably doesn’t bother me. It’s not the most important issue for me to make the difference in my life to understand the exact origin. I think ] the creator that I know created us, everyone of us, and created the universe, and the precise time and manner, I just don’t think we’re at the point where anybody has absolute proof on either side. [So I just don’t . . . if that were the only issue, quite frankly, I would think it’s an interesting discussion, I think it’s a theological discussion, and I think it’s fine, and we can have our . . . if that were the issue of the day, I wouldn’t be running for public office.”]