Home | Business News | Browse by Publication | A | Arena Magazine

Nothing left but sinners and victims.

Article Excerpt
That an institution such as the Catholic Church could release a list of contemporary 'sins', only to have it subsequently mocked or ignored by most sectors of the mainstream media, suggests both the declining force of mainstream religion and the moral irrelevance of contemporary ideas of sin. The list, a supplement to the traditional seven deadly sins (pride, greed, lust, gluttony, etc), was significant, however, because the Church wanted to highlight the category of socialsins that went beyond the individual. The new sins, 'polluting, genetic engineering, obscene riches, taking drugs, abortion, paedophilia and causing social injustice', are, according to Gianfranco Girotti, head of the Apostolic Penitentiary, 'a corollary of the unstoppable process of globalisation'. This attempt to recast sin within a social setting is suggestive. However, given that the current bestseller list includes at least four works attacking the very idea of religion in the name of social progress, any bid by the mainstream Church for social relevance was bound to be a fraught exercise.

It's easy to see why the new sins are an easy target for critics of the Catholic Church. The list has a somewhat ad hoc feel. Apart from being vaguely defined as social sins they seem to have little in common. If the original seven sins all share a common element of excess, in...

View this article FREE - Now for a Limited Time, try Goliath Business News
Free for 3 Days!