Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky said Friday that some Republicans are too eager to use the nation’s military might abroad without thinking through the unintended consequences of those actions.

Mr. Paul said the GOP must rethink its approach to foreign policy because of the negative blow back against Christians worldwide, pointing out that after the United States helped prop up the Shiite-led government of Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki that 225,000 Iraqi Christians fled in fear and many of settled in Syria, which is now embroiled in a bloody civil war.

“[President] Reagan spoke often of peace through strength,” Mr. Paul said at the Faith and Freedom Coalition’s “Road to Majority” conference in Washington. “I fear that some in our nation and some in our party have forgotten the first part of the sentence — that peace should be our goal, even as we build our strength.”

“Some in our party have distorted this belief of peace through strength into a misguided belief that we should should protect strength through war,” Mr. Paul said. “Even when we have tried through good intentions to make the world a better place, our actions have often backfired.”

Mr. Paul is laying the foundation for a presidential run in 2016 and has tried to reassure religious conservatives that his libertarian brand of politics is not out of sync with social conservatives.

Mr. Paul said that taxpayer-funded assistance is flowing into nations, including Pakistan, that are persecuting Christians.

“There is a war on Christianity going on and sometimes you are being asked to pay for it,” Mr. Paul said. “I say not one penny to any country that persecutes Christians.”

He also said that the nation should not send any money to nation’s that pledge violence to Israel. “It is time to stop this madness,” he said. “We need to reexamine this foreign policy.”

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