Question #121: Sin Silly
Dear Little Bald Bastard,
As a post-modern heathen, I find myself terribly bored with the traditional sins. While I'm sure that my soul is irretrievably soiled with the caustic filth of my decadent lifestyle, I find that living like a character in an Anne Rice novel just isn't as fascinating as it was when I was 17. How can I preserve the smear of acidic, putrid ichor that I call a soul, while trying new things at the same time?
- Soul Possessor
Dear Soul Possessor,
There's good news for those of you who consider the mundane dalliances with lust and sloth to be horribly banal. After 1,500 years, the fun-loving scamps at the Vatican have finally doubled their list of seven deadly sins. The seven newest deadly sins (now 100% deadlier!) are supposed to reflect the moral decline of the modern, secular world. They are, in no particular order:
* Abortion
* Damaging the environment
* Carrying out morally questionable scientific experiments
* Allowing genetic manipulation which alters DNA or compromises embryos
* Dealing or using drugs
* Pedophilia
* Social injustice that causes poverty or
the excessive accumulation of wealth by a few.
The mind-stomping irony of the last two items notwithstanding, this represents a boon for those of you who are tired of the trite, clichéd evil of the old list. Now you can enjoy the tingly thrill of mocking god every time you don't recycle.
One only hopes that the church will commission someone to write The Divine Comedy 2: Electric Boogaloo, so that we'll know for certain what eternal punishments await us for each of the new infractions. I can't see the deterrent effect being really powerful unless we know the penalties up front.
New Humanist
Times Online
2 comments:
Using drugs is a deadly sin? What drugs are OK to use? Does my doctor have to be vetted by the Pope before I can safely use something she's prescribed?
Wow.
I doubt that the current Pope could have gotten to be so scary-old without the benefit of powerful pharmaceuticals. I suspect that the proscription straddles the artificial distinction of illegal drugs from "medicines." They're trying (as usual) to discourage the fun chemicals.
Which leads to another interesting question. If (let's choose a drug at random) marijuana gets legalized, is that no longer a sin?
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