Donald Trump’s Supreme Court pick has been wildly heralded as a good selection by conservatives of all stripes, including those of an evangelical persuasion. And, that’s for good reason.
By all accounts, Neil Gorsuch seems to be a Constitutional Conservative.
Gorsuch has been heralded as a Supreme Court pick “in the mold of Antonin Scalia.” He once worked for Justice Kennedy. He also served in George W. Bush’s justice department. Gorsuch has ruled that employers have a right to deny birth-control to their employees and has written against assisted suicide. His mother served Reagan as head of the EPA and gutted the department of unnecessary regulations, and Goruch himself seems to favor few government regulations.
At the same time, there is some concern. Andrew Schlafly, son of enigmatic and iconic conservative firebrand, Phyllis Schlafly, says that Gorsuch uses language that makes him sound more pro-choice than pro-life (link). The New York Times urges liberals to support Gorsuch because he’s issued rulings against the government in favor of illegal immigrants (link). In the end, we’ll have to see, but conservatives have every reason to be optimistic.
The question that polemically inquisitive minds might ask is what exactly are the specific religious beliefs of Neil Gorsuch.
First, Gorsuch – if confirmed – will be the only Protestant to serve the court (the rest practice Judaism or Catholicism). This alone might give evangelicals warm, tingly feelings. But, there’s not reason to christen Gorsuch an evangelical by any stretch of the imagination.
Gorsuch is a member of St. John’s Episcopal Church in Boulder, Colorado (link). The website for the church promises that they are an “inclusive” congregation that practices “contemplative prayer” and engages in “social justice programs.”
Yay. Social Justice.
The church is green-friendly, and has a function on the website so that people can see how much energy the church solar panels are producing. The church’s impastor is the Reverend Susan Springer (and all the deacons are females). Springer, Gorsuch’s impastor, is a renown social progressive who is an outspoken supporter for gay marriage, gun control and all things liberal. Springer is quoted as saying…
“I don’t think anybody in my faith tradition is out to destroy marriage between a man and a woman. I think we are out to find a way to offer the same blessing and the same sense of inclusion to same-sex couples. And I think we stand as prophetic witness, that same-sex couples ought to enjoy the same legal benefits, if you will, as heterosexual couples…Any time you take a stand as a faith leader, whether it’s gun control, same-sex blessings, capital punishment or immigration, it’s very risky — and yet the paradox is, we are called to take a stand” (link).
Springer also recently organized a city-wide event to speak on the dangers of “gun violence” (link).
The Episcopal Church of which Gorsuch is a part started to have “full inclusion” toward the LGBTQXYZLMNOP community in 1976, added its first sodomite clergy member in 2003, voted to authorize a “blessing” on same-sex unions in 2012 and made the rite of marriage available to sodomites in 2015. The Episcopal Church has also repeatedly defended a woman’s “right” to murder her unborn child.
If Gorsuch is a true conservative and has been able to maintain his conservatism in St. John’s Episcopal Church, he should do fine in Washington.
Time will tell.
