Jennifer Senior interviews Antonin Scalia and discovers that he thinks that the devil is “a real person” and that all Catholics believe that.
SENIOR: Isn’t it terribly frightening to believe in the Devil?
SCALIA: 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.
SENIOR:I hope you weren’t sensing contempt from me. It wasn’t your belief that surprised me so much as how boldly you expressed it.
SCALIA: I was offended by that. I really was.
Scalia is somewhat puzzled that the devil was a co-star of the New Testament but isn’t even getting cameo roles lately. But he has an explanation. The devil is “wilier” than he used to be.
Also, Scalia refuses to read the New York Times or the Washington Post because they are too liberal. He gets his news from the Wall Street Journal and Washington Times. He also listens to Bill Bennett’s gambling-advice radio show in the morning while he is shaving. In this way, he avoids elevating himself above “mainstream America” and distinguishing himself as above average in any way. Because, when we say that we want a Supreme Court that is reflective of the diversity of the country, what we really mean is that we need to have at least two total morons serving there.
