Charles Randall Paul has a BS in social-psychology from Brigham Young University and an MBA from Harvard University. After sixteen years as a commercial real estate developer, he joined the Committee on Social Thought at the University of Chicago to obtain a Ph.D. His dissertation focused on methods for respectfully contesting irresolvable ideological conflicts. He has published various papers and a book on the methods of engaging in religious conflicts.

He is the founder and president of the Foundation for Religious Diplomacy that aims to build trust and good will between religious critics and rivals. He has produced a documentary film on religious rivalry in America. He has lectured and organized Heart & Mind conversations in Europe, Russia, the Middle East, Southeast Asia and China. He is the creator of The Way of Openness. He serves on the boards of the Baskerville Institute and Luke 10.

He has served as a pastor for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  He currently serves on the board of several business and professional organizations. Married for over fifty-four years, he has five children and sixteen grandchildren.  Raised in northern New Jersey he now lives in Utah. His personal interests include social conflict theory, comparative theology, urban design, transhumanism and alpine sports.