Justice Gorsuch disputes that America was founded as a Christian nation
“I just don’t see it that way.”Justice Neil Gorsuch says he’s often accused of being an optimist. “And I am,” he says in a new interview airing this weekend on PBS.
“I know when you look around today, you see problems,” says Gorsuch, reflecting on the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. “I see problems with civic education…Are we going to disagree? Yes, we’re going to disagree. But that’s the way the whole system works. And if you look over 250 years, what we’ve achieved, I don’t know why you wouldn’t be optimistic about America.”
In honor of this milestone, Gorsuch wrote a new children’s book, Heroes of 1776, which celebrates the lesser known men and women who made America possible.
“I do think young people, when they’re exposed to these ideas, when they’re exposed to these heroes in our past, will find inspiration from them and can do great things because of them.”
But revolting against the British was no easy task. As Gorsuch lays out in the book, it required a great deal of courage and sacrifice—often one’s own life. And it was not easy to choose a side. Which one would Gorsuch have chosen?
“We will never know what we would’ve done,” says Gorsuch. “I know who I’d like to think whose side I would’ve been on…I would’ve liked to have been a patriot. Of course.”
Justice Gorsuch also reflected on the way history has been construed in contemporary politics. Conservatives like Vice President JD Vance and Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts have recently asserted America was founded as a Christian nation. Gorsuch disagrees.
“I just don’t see it that way,” says Gorsuch. “We have a First Amendment for crying out loud. No established religion.”
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