LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - "I even believe in the Devil," and "yeah, he's a real person," Scalia said in an interview for New York magazine, published on October 6.
"Hey, come on, that's standard Catholic doctrine," Scalia said, who is Catholic. "Every Catholic believes that."
Scalia has served on the high court for 27 years. When asked what evidence there is of the Devil in today's world, he said,
"You know, it's curious. In the Gospels, the Devil is doing all sorts of things. He's making pigs run off cliffs, he's possessing people and whatnot. And that doesn't happen much anymore."
"It's because he's smart," the justice said. "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 that atheism was not the "Devil's work," but said that atheism, or a non-belief in God "certainly favors the Devil's desires."
"I mean, come on, that's the explanation for why there's not demonic possession all over the place," Scalia said. "That always puzzled me. What happened to the Devil, you know? He used to be all over the place. He used to be all over the New Testament."
When asked,"Isn't it frightening to believe in the Devil?" Scalia declared "You're looking at me as though I'm weird. My God! Are you so out of touch with most of America, most of which 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."
http://www.catholic.org/politics/story.php?id=52692
Scalia was nominated to the Supreme Court by President Ronald Reagan and was confirmed by the Senate as an associate justice in September 1986. He is considered one of solid conservatives on the court. Holding degrees from Georgetown University, the University of Fribourg, and Harvard Law School, he is married and the father of nine children.
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