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October 7th, 2013
12:31 PM ET
Scalia says atheism 'favors the devil's desires'By Daniel Burke, CNN Belief Blog Co-editor Follow @BurkeCNN(CNN) - As the Supreme Court begins its new term Monday, the devil is not on the docket - but the Evil One apparently is on the mind of Justice Antonin Scalia. New York magazine has published a fascinating new interview with Scalia in which the outspoken jurist tackled a number of topics. But none seemed to surprise Scalia's interviewer, Jennifer Senior, more than his views on Satan. The interview was conducted on September 26, the 27th anniversary of Scalia's swearing-in as a justice on the high court. He is one of a record six Catholic justices on the Supreme Court. After Scalia and Senior discussed heaven and hell (he believes in them; she doesn't), the justice said in a stage whisper, "I even believe in the devil." "You do?" Senior replied. "Of course! Yeah, he’s a real person. Hey, come on, that’s standard Catholic doctrine! Every Catholic believes that," Scalia said. Senior asked Scalia if he's seen evidence of Satan's work recently. "You know, it is curious," Scalia answered. "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 very much anymore. ... It’s because he’s smart." MORE FROM CNN: How to argue about religion online Senior asked if it's "frightening" to believe in the devil, which seemed to annoy Scalia. "You’re looking at me as though I’m weird," he answered. "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." Scalia, whose son, Paul, is a Catholic priest in Arlington, Virginia, also said Pope Francis is "absolutely" right about the church needing to concentrate more on mercy and outreach than on fighting the culture wars. MORE FROM CNN: American Catholics agree with Pope Francis on ending culture wars "But he hasn’t backed off the view of the church on those issues," Scalia said. "He’s just saying, 'Don’t spend all our time talking about that stuff. Talk about Jesus Christ and evangelize.' I think there’s no indication whatever that he’s changing doctrinally." Finally, Scalia said he has not "softened" his views on homosexuality. "I still think it’s Catholic teaching that it’s wrong. OK? But I don’t hate the people that engage in it. In my legal opinions, all I’ve said is that I don’t think the Constitution requires the people to adopt one view or the other," Scalia said. MORE FROM CNN: Church and state, executive power on Supreme Court docket soundoff (3,730 Responses)« Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 Next »
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The CNN Belief Blog covers the faith angles of the day's biggest stories, from breaking news to politics to entertainment, fostering a global conversation about the role of religion and belief in readers' lives. It's edited by CNN's Daniel Burke with contributions from Eric Marrapodi and CNN's worldwide news gathering team.  |
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The easter bunny is real, santa claus, is too and don't forget smokey the bear LOL
And this idiot is on the supreme court.
Oh come on, Boehner isn't that bad,.... well or is he?
wow! when i started to read this i thought that is who Scalia was talking about.
So what evidence is there of Satan? For a really long time people have trotted out the biblical accounts and the 500+ witnesses that they say support the truth of the legend of the risen Christ. What does anyone have that says that Satan is real?
Those statements should automatically disqualify him from serving as a justice on the SC....seriously....
Every single kid in Sunday school knows that the devil is just a ruse...
I see Joe Biden is back posting again.
I swear mt comment is getting deleted using the word consti**tion
Scalia is generally correct on Satan, however he hasn't gotten any wilier or evil–he's always been the angel of light and the most deceptive of all creatures; Satan, that is.
While we move ever more into a post-Christian western civilization. we'll be seeing more columns written by people such as this author who have no basic understanding of the underpinnings of our once great society.
Elliott,
"no basic understanding of the underpinnings of our once great society"
Was that the great society that supported slavery? Or the one that kept women from voting? Or way back to when they burned witches?
Or the one which abolished slavery, which attempted to redeem itself through ill-intentioned welfare, voting rights and affirmative action...that provided reservations back to the Indians and gave them unbelievable rights to casino profits. True, there were evils, but if we have to take credit for them, we can take credit for attempting remedies to these evils. How about western culture developed early on in the colonies at Harvard Yale and Princeton, all founded by the religious...please, stop being so slanted in your opinion of this country's exceptional beginnings.
Elliott,
Yep. It was the largely Christian group of our forefathers that cheated the natives out of their land and forced them onto reservations.
oh yeah, i'd be remiss to mention all of that blood spilt for slavery...remember?
Elliott,
Blood spilt for slavery. Do you mean the Christians in the north who fought the Christians in the south who used the Bible to support slavery? That same Bible was used less than 60 years ago to deny interracial marriage.
Trivia: The greatest number of people in our nation that were casualties of any one war were killed by Christians.
wow, you sound just as delusional as Scalia.
Oh Wow!
Well, I believe in Joe Pesci....
It worked for George Carlin!
I think Justice Scalia's vote in the Citizen's United case has done more to serve the Devil's desires than the actions of all the U.S. Atheists combined.
There is NO WAY a US Supreme Justice who believes in gods, devils and hands-on devil's work acting directly on man should be allowed on the bench.
The man openly admits he is delusional and justifies it by referencing the vast majority of human history, which was ignorant, did not understand rational thought, and believed in the direct intervention of gods and devils.
This is grounds for immediate dismissal. I am not comfortable with Supreme Court Justice who is religiously deluded. This is very, very disturbing. I am picturing a long, grey beard and a black turban on this guy......
Many believe the exact opposite that NO WAY an atheist should be on the bench making decisions about other people when they only subscribe to a personal belief system. But this is America, you can believe what you want.
Enough of the drama fella. You are slowly getting your way with no Protestant on the Supreme Court since our founding. And like it or not, our basis of law is found in Judeo-Christian law. Don't be one of those clowns trying to convince us God isn't mention in the Declaration of Independence, which was adopted by Congress.
Er......God is NOT in the declaration of independence. Go read it......
Creator, Judge, Nature's God...
...divine Providence.
*crickets*
Elliott,
The Const-itution is the basis for all our laws. References to God, Jesus, Christ, Christianity: ZERO. ZIP. NONE. NILL. ZILCH.
CNN keep deleting my comment about scalia and no key words to auto delete.
Hail Satan!
I cannot believe how upset ppl get from the mention of Jesus Christ but its ok to mention Allah or some other god...but the mention of Jesus christ really burns ppl why is that ?? This world is controlled by the evil demons thats y this word has gone to hell already...research what comes next ...by the time you realize that Jesus saves it might be too late for you .. thats where eternal burning comes from the one who has deceived this world and all who loved what was in it more than the Lord..the "devil" is who is deceiving the world .. Hope everyone is prepared on judgment day cause its coming and its not just a story in the "babble" may God have mercy on your souls... im sure when your in that place of desperation there is no one too help the first thing you say is"please God help me" and guess what,..he will he is merciful and also just God...deny me to the world and i will deny you to my father...just gotta turn on the tv to see the wickedness and this illuminati who control all you see on tv and news. The evil ones..even told you their plans on your veryown currency..but you dont wanna see it. Isaiah 28: 15 those who turn things upside down. Go watch a jonathan kleck video. Maybe you will wanna be saved after it ..i will pray for you all
What a hoot. "Yeah, may god have mercy on your soul?" Please - you WANT all non-believers to burn in hell. And the Illuminati reference is priceless. Hmm...what could that mean? Gee, I don't know, that all evil in the world is the fault of.....JEWS!!!!
What a nut.
I dont want that.. more souls the better..God loves you and forgives and forgets. Who do you know on this earth who does that now a days.. to never remember again..jews are Gods ppl.
Jesus saves.!!! GOD BLESS AND I PRAY EVERYONE HAS A BLESSED NIGHT... :: ))
JESUS LOVES YOU IN ALL CAPS IF YOU BELIEVE IN HIM.
BUT ALL CAPS JESUS WILL SEND YOU TO HELL IF YOU DONT
Lots of bad Christiians have soured a lot of atheists. Sad but true. If so called Christians actually followed Christ's teachings then they wouldn't be so angry
Lots of bad atheists have soured a lot of Christians. Sad but true. If so called atheists actually followed C. Dick Dawkins' teachings on pedophilia then they wouldn't be so hung when arguing about morality
Couple of things...
1) who said its ok to mention Allah? Just try it in a gathering of right wing Christians and see what happens.
2) you know Allah is the Arabic word for god right? Even Arabic Christians call god Allah.
theologically Allah is not the god of Christianity, nor is the Arabic counter-name for Christ. Allah never accepted Christ's sacrifice for sin, which is a staple of Christianity. They don't believe Allah is Trinitarian, therefore by definition, he's not the God of Christianity.
Using that argument then neither is the Jewish version of god the same god of Christianity
Scalia would know first hand about the existence of Satan – he's good friends with Dick Cheney.
Bill, your originality is only superseded by your inability to make anyone laugh.
Reality is not a joke
Bronze Age thinkers are the devil of progress.
The boot heels of CNN oppression are still on my neck. Imagine what they would be like in China, handing people over right and left for crimes of belief and unbelief. Oh well...
I once heard a Lutheran pastor trying to convince his flock that the devil is real. The impression I came away with is of people who really don't believe in the devil. If they believed in the devil the pastor was talking about they would never leave the sanctuary.
I don't know about lutherans, but Catholics aren't overly afraid of the devil if you are in full communion with God
This is standard doctrine, not just for Catholics, but for all Christians (and even Muslims). Is this reporter ignorant or just pretending to act as if Scalia's belief are unique?
Standard DOGMA. These are children's myths. Period. There are not gods and devils and magical places where we get to live happily ever after. We live, we love, we die. That's it. Better enjoy what you have. This is NOT a dress rehearsal.....
I wish you were right, but I don't think so. Have you ever heard the saying 'the Truth hurts'? It seems like the philosophy you are adhering to, but the Truth is beautiful...it doesn't hurt necessarily. And if you believe that anything that makes you feel good is false, then you will have a very miserable life. But please remember that you are choosing to see things in this negative way. Your beliefs aren't true because they lead to spiritual pain.
Wow. And I thought the hard line Iranian clerics were wingnuts. We've got one sitting on the SCOTUS. Now that's frightening. Most religious Americans are week-end Christians, Muslims or Jews and believe in that the devil exists in the same way as they believe various other fantastical creatures exist such as superman, batman, the boogie man, fairies, sorcerers, witches, angels, goblins, ghosts, elves, leprechauns, zombies, Dracula and other various other god-like creatures.
Hey! We can heeeeaaarrr you!
It bothers me that a man who sits on the highest court in the land earnestly believes in fairy tales.
I am Satan incarnate and what is more...I am a REPUBLICAN! Ahhhhh! Haa! Haa! Haa!
*I am Satan incarnate! And what is more important...I am a Republican! Ahhhhhh! Ha! Ha! Ha!