Honestly, I can’t keep up with this guy.

He wants next-to-no government, but does not approve of same-sex marriage.

See if you can reconcile the following, from Kentucky.com:

Republican senatorial candidate Rand Paul told a group of Christian home schoolers in Kentucky on Friday that he favors a separation of church and state, saying allowing the government into religious institutions "scares" him.

Yet he does not approve of same-sex marriage. That means he does not approve of GOVERNMENT PERMITTING same-sex marriage. As a candidate for the United States Senate, that’s the only possible interpretation of that position.

The tea party favorite also voiced his opposition to government faith-based initiatives that have been used to funnel federal and state funds into religious organizations.

"The faith-based initiative was getting government involved in churches basically, and that scares me a little bit, because there are things that you can say in the church that we think are sinful, and that should be something we can say," the Bowling Green eye surgeon told about 300 people in the sanctuary of Valley View Church in suburban Louisville. "But the second this church starts taking government money, then they’re going to say you can’t say these things are sinful."

Paul, a Presbyterian layman, campaigned at a Christian Home Educators of Kentucky convention where he was peppered with questions about his religious beliefs, brushing aside one about the age of the earth that he later described as ridiculous.

"I’m not running for minister," Paul said later. "I’m more than willing to stand up and say I’m a Christian, but I don’t think I have to go into every detail of what my religious beliefs are. If I were going to be the minister of their church, they’d have a right to ask me that."

No, not running for minister, but apparently hung up on a few issues. He’s not running for minster, but

Andrew Willis of Elizabethtown, who teaches his four children at home, said he hoped Paul’s answer would jibe with his own belief that the earth is about 6,000 years old.

"I’m not at all surprised that he didn’t want to answer that question," Willis said shortly after posing it. "I know that is hugely controversial."

Yes, that’s because the earth is actually a little over 4.5 billion years old. No, that’s not a matter of opion, religious or otherwise. "That’s the way it is," as Walter Cronkite used to say.

But science apparently doesn’t win many votes in Kentucky.