There is a Swedish and Finnish saying, “like the Devil reads the Bible” – som fan läser bibeln; lukee kuin piru raamattua; meaning that somebody is doing a malicious interpretation – through literalism, equivocation, wilful misinterpretation, or looking for loopholes.

This saying has a Shakespearean cognate in The Merchant of Venice (another can of worms): “The devil can cite scripture for his purpose.” (Act 1, scene 3.)

I read so many (too many) historical sources to find motivations for this character in this scene, but I decided not to reproduce any arguments. Instead, the character expresses his views in Bible quotes (King James Version for this character, while Falco’s quotes are from the Douay-Rheims Version) that actually have been (ab)used to justify racist ideas.