It's been about a millenia and a half since the subject of that which renders the souls of sinners to a fiery eternity was last visited upon by Pope Gregory I.
Today the Vatican released something of an update to the seven deadly sins; The Seven Social Sins:
1. ``Bioethical' violations such as birth control
2. ``Morally dubious'' experiments such as stem cell research
3. Drug abuse
4. Polluting the environment
5. Contributing to widening divide between rich and poor
6. Excessive wealth
7. Creating poverty
Apologies to our Catholic readers and with a nod to George Carlin, wouldn't it be more efficient to simply combine the two edicts (and 14 offenses) and simply declare two sins.
1. Don't be human.
2. See #1.
Despite being baptized Catholic I've always engaged dogma from either a dismissive direction (my childhood) or one of suspicion (now.) Suspicion because, for example, it's not at all hard to triangulate recent political events, recent Vatican commentary and some of this latest bit of church edict. There's a certain amount of convenience present here which seems to defy much of what I've read of the Christian doctrine. There's a fine line between piety and punitiveness; between faith and judgment. The latter of which, if I've read correctly, is reserved solely for God and yet...
Comments and criticism greatly encouraged.
4 comments:
I thought Carolyn O'Hara said it well.
The vatican is on crack.
Half of the list doesn't even have a social dimension and it could be argued that some are individual choices that don't even concern other people.
Eliot Spitzer would do well to "bone up" on this new list. Even if one is filthy rich, like Spitzer, how can anyone justify paying several thousand dollars on at least 7 or 8 occasions for a call girl? On the other hand, maybe Spitzer was actually involved in an elaborate form of wealth redistribution, trying to address the "Contributing to widening divide between rich and poor" issue? Wait a minute! Maybe it wasn't so bad after all?
All joking aside, however, I can't see how the new sin list is needed. I would also reduce it down to two basic rules:
1. Work hard
2. Be nice
YH. Very concise on Ms. O'Hara's part. I suspect some would argue that the amassed wealth of the Vatican serves to provide various aspects of charity.
Munz,
I'm reading a political message. And while the message on the whole isn't a bad one I have to wonder how it sits with the doctrine it represents?
downstreamer,
thanks much for coming by. Eliot Spitzer is the ultimate "Master of the Universe." Damn near straight out of a Tom Wolfe novel.
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