Justice Antonin Scalia: 'I Believe the Devil is at Work Today'
Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia is currently the longest-serving Justice on the Court. In a new interview, Scalia spoke about his Catholic faith, belief in God and the Devil, and how he thinks the Devil is working these days.
When asked by "New York" magazine's Jennifer Senior if he believed in heaven and hell, Scalia replied, "Oh, of course I do. Everyone is going one place or the other. I even believe in the Devil. Yeah, he's a real person. Hey, c'mon, that's standard Catholic doctrine. Every Catholic believes that… If you are faithful to Catholic dogma, that is certainly a large part of it."
Scalia attended public elementary school and a Catholic high school in New York City. He has made no secret of his religious beliefs and how they have influenced his decisions while on the Supreme Court.
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He not only expressed a belief in the Devil but noted that even though the Devil was not doing the same things he did in the New Testament, the Devil was still at work in today's society.
"What he's doing now is getting people not to believe in him or in God. He's much more successful that way," Scalia explained. He went on to add: "most of America believes in the Devil. I mean, Jesus Christ believed in the Devil! It's in the Gospels! You travel in circles that are so, so removed from mainstream America that you are appalled that anybody would believe in the Devil! Most of mankind has believed in the Devil, for all of history. Many more intelligent people than you or me have believed in the Devil."
The Justice has a fondness for Pope Francis and said that he agrees with the Pope's assertion that the church should be more evangelistic.
"I have often bemoaned the fact that the Catholic Church has sort of lost that evangelistic spirit," Scalia said. "And if this pope brings it back, all the better. [Pope Francis] is the Vicar of Christ. He's the chief. I don't run down the pope."
