In a recent piece at The Atlantic, anthropologist T.M. Luhrmann argues that Amy Coney Barrett’s charismatic faith might lead here to be “less predictable than many presume.” Here is a taste:
In my research on charismatic evangelical Christianity, I have seen that people experience God as doing surprising, startling things, and that their sense of being surprised by God becomes proof that they are acting as he wills. I met, for example, a man who joined the Word of God (the community from which People of Praise developed) and became a charismatic evangelical pastor. Ken Wilson founded a church in Ann Arbor, Michigan, with hundreds of congregants. He led that church for decades. Some years ago, his associate pastor met the woman who would become her wife. The church wanted him to fire her. But Wilson had prayed intensely about this, and he refused. He believes that it was God who changed his mind. The church then asked him to leave too—and he did.
Amy Coney Barrett is a woman who has lived out a radical critique of the modern world. She will be less vulnerable to the peer pressure of other judges than many might be, because she has a powerful moral compass, developed out of her own experience in prayer. Yes, she will likely oppose Roe v. Wade if the opportunity arises. Yes, she will likely take conservative positions. But she has a radical streak and an intensely personal God, and we should expect some surprises from her.
Read the rest here.
This is an interesting argument, but it is based on the assumption–which Barrett denies–that her religious faith will somehow shape how she understands the law. I think, in most cases, the originalism of Antonin Scalia, and not her charismatic faith, will guide her decisions. This probably means that the surprises will be few.