The NEW Seven Deadly Sins

Recently, the Catholic Church unveiled "The New Seven Deadly Sins". They are:

Genetic Modification

Human Experimentations

Polluting the Environment

Social Injustice

Causing Poverty

Financial Gluttony

Taking Drugs



Now, some of these are a little difficult for an individual to apply in everyday life, unlike the first seven, which were designed to be the antithesis of the Cardinal Virtues. Both of those dealt explicitly with how an individual person should live life.

In addition to the confusion surrounding the tone of plurality, there seems to be a certain vagueness about the new rules. For example, does "Taking Drugs" mean using illegal drugs, or all drugs? I, for one, have a hard time swallowing that pill. Are we to believe that while antibiotics might save your life, they will damn your soul?

And how does anybody "Cause Poverty"? Do these sins deal with the unintended consequences of actions? For example, if I win the lottery (Financial Gluttony), and don't donate my new fortune to charity, am I inadvertently Causing Poverty? And how is Financial Gluttony different from good old-fashioned Greed?

What about Social Injustice? How can a single person impact that either way? Is being a citizen of a racist nation enough to damn you? Is not rising in rebellion over a social injustice sufficient to send you to hell?

And what, exactly, is Social Injustice? Slavery? Racism? Affirmative Action? Where is the line, and, more importantly, WHO decides?

A lot of these new sins seem to be somewhat redundant too - Causing Poverty and Financial Gluttony, for example. I don't know that many of these are even 'sinful', but stem from a conservation-istic philosophy of how religion should guide one's life. Were I to make this list, I would certainly put 'selfishness' above anything on it. As in the old days, it is motive that makes an act pure or impure, not any particular act itself. Of course, with pure motives, some acts would never be done, but that's secondary to the main point: it is intent, not deed, that the Church should be guiding.