New Rant!

A colleague of mine asked me this past Friday if I had heard about the additional seven deadly sins. I hadn't so she copied an opinion piece from Time magazine, which can be found here.

What she told me was that Pope Benedict XVI has added seven more deadly sins to the original seven. They include: genetic modification, human experiments, such as cloning, polluting the environment, causing social injustice, causing poverty, becoming obscenely wealthy and taking drugs. For those who don't remember the original deadly sins, they include: pride, gluttony, sloth, lust, anger, greed, and envy. There is a fundamental difference between the two lists. One focus' on the individual responsibility and the other on society. So, why the additions? Good question.

If you look at each of the original deadly sins separately, we as a society have allowed them to become insubstantial and to some extent encourage the sin. Take pride for example. Parents are equating pride as self-esteem, when they aren't the same. Lust is prevalent in advertising and how many of us have seen the television commercial for the law firm telling people that if they have money owed them they should have their money NOW and have those same people demanding their money NOW. Personally, that advertisement disgusts me to no end. But, all it does is portray people as entitled to be angry if they don't get what they think they deserve.

There were consequences associated with the original sins. Who decides who is obscenely wealthy and what is the cut off? What about polluting, taking drugs? Wouldn't the taking of drugs be included in one of the originals, like contributing to sloth? I'm not sure I understand the thought process behind the additions. Why not return the focus back to the individual and their responsibility for their behaviors and actions?

In the article, the author quotes Mohandas Ghandi and his version of the seven deadly sins: "Wealth without work, pleasure without conscience, science without humanity, knowledge without character, politics without principle, commerce without morality and worship without sacrifice."

I"ll end with that. I'm a strong proponent of individual responsibility and I see the addition of the seven as redundant. If we can't be responsible for ourselves, how are we supposed to be responsible as a society?

Keep on Go!