Conservatives should be wary of Roy Moore's fundamentalism

Roy Moore, former chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court and candidate for U.S. Senate in Alabama in next week's primary election, is an ardent defender of the second amendment and wants to see Obamacare repealed. He frequently quotes from the Constitution and Declaration of Independence during interviews and debates. He strongly advocates for federalism and for returning to a more original understanding and application of the separation of powers principle.

There's a lot there for conservatives to like. That doesn't mean conservatives should support him or his brand of politico-religious fundamentalism, an aspect of his politics that overshadows everything else. Moore uses God to oversimplify complex political realities.

That's not to say Moore's critique of American politics isn't compatible with the arguments many other conservatives make. He recently released Abuse of Power, his opinion on the Supreme Court's 2015 Obergefell decision, which outlines the dissents of Justices Roberts, Scalia, Thomas, and Alito, and calls the decision an imposition of "personal policy preferences [of the Justices] upon the Constitution that have no basis whatsoever in its text…"

National Review took a similar position, using cases like Obergefell and Roe as examples of legislation by the judiciary. And it's possible to hold that view without embracing Moore's view of the founding as a quasi-religious event, or that increased religious belief can fix difficult national issues like magic.

"I'm all for President Trump and his agenda to make America great again," Moore has said. "I believe we can and I believe we will. But before we make America great, we've got to make America good. And how do you make America good? You return to the acknowledgment of the foundation of morality, which is in God."