Scalia: Satan is Real, Democrats and Republicans Need to Socialize More

Teresa Neumann : Oct 8, 2013
Jennifer Senior – New York Magazine

When a reporter expressed incredulity that Chief Justice Antonin Scalia believed in the devil, he replied, "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!!"

(Washington, DC)—The internet and U.S. print media are abuzz today over comments Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia made in a New York Magazine interview with Jennifer Senior in which he expressed remorse over a lack of socialization between political parties and chastised his interviewer for being shocked that most Americans believe in the devil.

"When I was first in Washington," he said, "and even in my early years on this court, I used to go to a lot of dinner parties at which there were people from both sides. Democrats and Republicans …it doesn't happen anymore."

In fact, said the justice, the tone has become so shrill, that he and his wife have had to cancel certain publications they used to read because of gross political bias. Though he listens to NPR occasionally, Scalia's favorite radio program is his "good friend" Bill Bennet.

Christianity Today ran with the segment of the interview in which Scalia talks about Heaven and Hell, highlighting the fact that Scalia leaned toward Senior and said, "I even believe in the devil."

Scalia was reportedly shocked by Senior's incredulity and replied, "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."

The justice then cited C. S. Lewis' The Screwtape Letters, and added that now, instead of making pigs jump off cliffs, the devil is "getting people not to believe in him or in God."

Read this fascinating interview (in which Scalia addresses DOMA, the new pope, Duck Dynasty, the growing coarseness of our culture, etc.) by clicking here.