On Faith: Lessons from an American Believer

I remember during my first year of law school I would always try to find something that Justice Scalia said that was wrong...and I failed every time. Now, as a law school graduate, I thought I may have found found an error in his theological analysis. After combing through "On the Roman Pontiff" by St. Robert Bellarmine; translated by Ryan Grant (also available on Tumblar House; void where prohibited) I discovered to my unfortunately accustomed shame that Justice Scalia was correct and I was wrong, once again. A fount of knowledge and much needed humility, as usual, by a learned Son of the Church.

I wanted to read this book for many reasons: 1.) Scalia always striked me as a feisty Italian, like many of my relatives 2.) I have enjoyed his sharp, outspoken words in some crucial Supreme Court decisions 3.) I wanted to see how in the world a faithful Catholic can maintain his beliefs and reconcile them with the American judicial system, being so high up, when it seems that the price you have to pay to rise to the top is to renounce your faith!

As it turns out, there's even more interesting background to Scalia. He was an avid Latin Mass goer, despite being educated at Harvard, and also by the Jesuits at Georgetown, neither of which have the greatest track record when it comes to churning out devout Catholics.

In other words, I read this truly out of biographical curiosity rather than to learn and study the wisdom of Scalia. I have somewhat different views from him, but despite that, I enjoyed the common ground we had, particularly when it came to his attacks on the insane liberal logic of some of these tragic Supreme Court decisions.

He absolutely embraces a Catholic counter-culturalism, which was very refreshing. Being a "fool for Christ". And furthermore, he even recognized that smart men like Jefferson, made huge errors when it come to the denial of the supernatural and miraculous in the Bible. It seems that he recognized the Founding Fathers were flawed men, but nevertheless accepted the sort of Eisenhower approach that America must be a very vague albeit devoutly religious country. He seems to see the moral decay of the country as an unnatural happening whereas to me, a deist Enlightenment approach possesses the seeds of its own destruction.

Nevertheless, Scalia proudly defends the traditions of America in terms of its built-in religiosity and moral character. His arguments regarding the death penalty were also fascinating and enlightening. He did not like Pope Francis's amendment to the catechism at all when it came to the death penalty.

I highly recommend the book for all those interested. It's a quick and easy read, and you do learn a lot about the unique challenges and approach of a judge who is devoutly Catholic. You can't simply can't impose your faith as an opinion You have to abide by the constraints and framework of the law, and it was fascinating to see the ways Scalia attempted to do that.