1/ In an exchange with some religious authorities of his day (Pharisees), Jesus was accused of breaking Jewish law about the Sabbath when he and his disciples were picking grain.
2/ His response included the assertion that "the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath" (Mk 2:27). In other words, God does not come up with laws and then create humans to keep them. God creates humans, then guards their well-being with things like Sabbath observance.
3/ This is one context in which I think about the problems of the #Originalism of people like #AmyConeyBarrett. It is something of a Pharisaic approach to the #Constitution, as if people exist to serve the interests of the Constitution rather than the other way around.
4/ Originalism begs the question of why the original meaning or intent is necessarily the primary or only relevant reading. Moreover, the fundamental question is, do human rights answer to the Constitution, or does the Constitution serve human rights?
5/ One reason evangelical Christians are drawn to originalism is because they recognize it. It's a lot like how the Bible is viewed. Since it is believed to be inspired by God, the original text is paramount, and modern interpretations are always inferior.
6/ This is appropriate and expected for religious convictions, but it doesn't work as well in secular society. Although its framers were intelligent men (absent women) worthy of respect, original intent and meaning are not universally or necessarily decisive.
7/ Another connection with evangelical Christianity is the belief, often asserted by fundamentalist apologists, that humans cannot perceive right from wrong independent of commands. Without the Bible, they say, there is no moral standard other than what we arbitrarily create.
8/ Interestingly, Jesus, in affirming 'the Golden Rule' and saying it "sums up the Law and the Prophets" (Matt. 7:12), affirmed a principle that is based on subjective experience. 'You should do to others what you wish done to you.'
9/ But here again, evangelical Christians transport parts of this "divine command ethics" to the Constitution, often implying that we do not have the right or wherewithal to expand our understanding of "the general welfare" and human rights if the framers didn't intend or want it
10/ Nowhere do we see the potential havoc this can unleash on our society than with the #SecondAmendment. Because of supposed obligations to the original intent, we have a society that is saturated with weapons and the highest gun violence rates in the developed world.
11/ Ironically, the "original intent" of the Second Amendment clearly, from its own wording, has in mind well-regulated militias, not a well-armed, unregulated populace. This approach is here revealed as not only hypocritical but a clear and present danger to human life.
12/ How transformative it would be if Christianity put "love of neighbor" first. Concurrently, how transformative it would be if our application of Constitutional law took seriously the reason for its framing noted in its preamble:
13/ "...to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty..."
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