Monday, March 10, 2008

Seven deadly sins

The Catholic Church has just announced that there are a new seven deadly sins. They are
  • Bioethical" violations such as birth control.
  • "Morally dubious" experiments such as stem cell research.
  • Drug abuse.
  • Polluting the environment.
  • Aggravating social injustice by contributing to the widening gap between rich and poor.
  • Excessive wealth.
This is in addition to the old list
  • Lust.
  • Gluttony.
  • Greed.
  • Envy.
  • Wrath.
  • Pride.
  • Sloth, which replaced sadness in the 17th century.
I am some what surprised at this list and that they have come out with a new list. Pleasantly surprised that Catholic Church sees the destruction of the world, social injustice and excessive wealth as major problems that need to be addressed. I was sadly surprised that certain things were not on the list. Things like abortion, terrorism and sexual abuse.
Over all I am not sure that making a list of the worst sins is the best idea. First of all, it comes across as really judgmental. This list would be a lot more powerful if sexual abuse was included because the Catholic Church would have been identifying some of their sins. Second reason a list might not be a good idea is that this implies that Christianity about following rules and not about following God. Third, I have real doubts that this list is going to change anything.

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