Constitutional originalism has long been an unquestioned dogma for conservative evangelicals, as the recent nomination of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court has again confirmed. Evangelical political leaders responded to the announcement with unrestrained praise. As the Southern Baptist Convention's Russell Moore wrote, "Judge Neil Gorsuch…is a brilliant and articulate defender of Constitutional originalism in the mold of the man he will replace: Justice Antonin Scalia."
Focus on the Family's James Dobson struck a similar note, suggesting that Gorsuch would "uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States and the original intent of its framers." For many evangelical conservatives, originalism has a dogma-like status not just because it is the proper way to read and interpret a text, but because the competing doctrine of the "living Constitution" has brought us not only the administrative state in the New Deal, but Roe and Obergefell.
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