Monday, March 10, 2008

Globalization affects sin

From CNN: Vatican lists new sinful behaviors

An excerpt:

When asked to list the new areas of sinful behavior, Girotti denounced "certain violations of the fundamental rights of human nature through experiments, genetic manipulations."
He also mentioned drugs, which weaken the mind and obscure intelligence; pollution; as well as the widening social and economic differences between the rich and the poor that "cause an unbearable social injustice."
Girotti said the
Catholic Church continued to be concerned by other sinful acts, including abortion and pedophilia.

If I were Jon Stewart, I'd make a joke about the continued concern about pedophilia, but I'm not.

Furthermore:

Traditionally the Catholic church has had a list of seven deadly sins, that of lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy, and pride established by Pope Gregory the Great in the 6th century.

...

Now the Vatican says it is time to modernize the list to fit a global world.
On hearing the Girotti's suggestion, some priests thought it was a good idea.
Father Antonio Pelayo, a Spanish priest and Vatican expert noted that it is time for both sinners and confessors to get over their obsession with sex and think about other ways humans hurt each other in the world in which they live.
"There are many other sins that are perhaps much more grave that don't have anything to do with sex - that have to do with life, that have to do with the environment, that have to do with justice," he told AP Television.


So, does this mean that the seven deadly sins are the now the 7+? deadly sins, or are there still seven, but some, like gluttony and greed are replaced with genetic manipulation and an outsized carbon footprint?

I'm not "against" the Catholic Church coming out and labeling some of these practices as sin or sinful, it is just that are the poor sinful becuase they live in a capitalist society that generates the incredibly inequality that is part of the new sin and they support capitalism? I mean, I just don't quite understand how one confesses to these? Forgive me father for I have sinned, six times last week I contributed to environmental degradataion, social injustice, supported the death penalty, and boinked my brother's wife?

How many hail mary's get do you get for boinking one's sister-in-law compared to contributing to global injustice?

Again, I'm all for painting these social ills in a bad light and it don't get much worse than sin, but I'm a little confused on the accounting.

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