•  Videos (July 2011) « Pawlenty for President
  

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FAITH AND VALUES

Mary Pawlenty: I was raised in a Christian family and my mother and father were Covenant by background, they're from the evangelical Covenant faith, and so I grew up in that church and eventually we came to Wooddale Church, which is affiliated with the Baptist General Conference.  And although that was the church that I attended, more importantly that was the background that I had in my family, and my parents were the ones who introduced me to the importance of having God in your life and being connected to God through faith and Jesus Christ.  So that was my faith background.

Tim Pawlenty: Well my family and I were Catholics when I was growing up, but when I met Mary in law school she was an evangelical and introduced me to the Lord in new and powerful ways and we enjoyed Bible study together and I started attending her church, Wooddale Church, and we wanted to make sure as we got married that our faith lives were unified as a family, so I joined Wooddale and we've been there ever since.

Mary Pawlenty: When I think that having time in the morning in particular, before you begin your day—a little bit of time with the Lord, spending time with the devotional, a Scripture passage, some time in prayer—and it varies every day.  Sometimes you get a little bit more time, sometimes a little bit less, but regardless, starting your day off on the right foot and just asking God will he please guide you through the course of your day, help you in your words, help you in your actions, and knowing that you're just going to rest in who God is and that he's going to lead the way every day.

Tim Pawlenty: I think when somebody is running for or holds high office whether it's mayor, governor, president of the United States, voters want to know and deserve to know who is this person?  You know, what shaped their values?  What are their values?  Is this a person that's good to their word?  Can we count on them?  And for me, my faith is very important to me.  It influences all that I do, and it informs people about what my values are, and of course that has a great bearing on how you conduct yourself in public office.

LEANING ON FAITH

Tim Pawlenty: Of course we lean into our faith in challenging times and hopefully all times as well, but in my case as a young person I was 16 years old, my mom passed on pretty suddenly and in that moment, in that chapter of challenge in my life, it was one of the times that I leaned deeply into my faith and turned to it and my faith in God as a source of strength, as a source of reassurance, as a source of comfort, in remembering that hope is always with us, and our hope is not in these earthly things, but it's in Jesus Christ.

Mary Pawlenty: How we approach our decisions together as a couple and we ask for God's guidance, it really is a matter of a faith walk, and you ask that God light your path and help you day by day to make the best decisions that you can possibly make both in your marriage, for your family, in your career, in all of the decisions that you make.  And I trust that He will light our path and he will show us the way.  That's probably the most important aspect both in our marriage as well as our family.

We hope our children will follow the path that God has laid out for each of them.

SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE

Tim Pawlenty: The separation of church and state was intended to protect people of faith from government, not government from people of faith.  And now we have all this revisionism around what was intended and where those lines really are drawn, and I think the Founders of this country made it very clear.  We were founded as a nation under God, and it's not only in our founding documents nationally, it's in the founding documents of 49 of the 50 states, and so it's very clear what road map they put out for us as it relates to faith in the public square.

Mary Pawlenty: When I think of those who founded this country and we look back on the record of what they said and what they believed, we know that these were people of faith.  We look back on for example comments that Benjamin Franklin made at the time of the Constitutional Convention, and he spoke of the fact that if a sparrow cannot fall without God's knowledge is it possible that an empire could rise without his aid.  We know that this country was founded by people of faith and that that's a critical aspect of this country's roots.

PRO-LIFE

Tim Pawlenty: Well God teaches us and the Founding Fathers confirm that we are to value and cherish life.  It's not only what they believe, but it's what I personally believe.  Our country was founded on the notion that we don't have government or anyone else step in and deny innocent life.  We need to cherish, protect and defend that value through our actions individually and government, and as Governor I did that for eight years and as president I certainly would as well.

TRADITIONAL MARRIAGE

Tim Pawlenty: A traditional marriage between a man and a woman is a moral building block of our society.  It's in the Bible.  God teaches that.  He values traditional marriage as between one man and one woman.  That's something I personally believe strongly and I've always stood for that in my public life and my personal life.

THE ASPIRATIONS OF A PRESIDENT

Tim Pawlenty: I think we all have an obligation to leave the campsite as good or better than we found it and for somebody who's running for high office and holding high office you have an obligation morally and from a Godly perspective to do your very best to leave it better than you found it.

I'm running for president because I love this country and I know it was founded under God and I've got the record, the results, the experience, the leadership, the judgment, and the values and beliefs to lead it to a better place.

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Notes: This is a very in-depth presentation on faith from both the Pawlentys; it coincided with Tim Pawlenty's declining to sign The Family Leader's Marriage Vow Pledge.  The campaign ran a radio ad pointing people to "PawlentyFaith.com" (the link turns out to be Pawlenty's Iowa Straw Poll site with the video prominently displayed.).  From a cinematographical point of view, it's shot in very warm tones.

Copyright © 2011 Eric M. Appleman/Democracy in Action.