Angela attempts a commentary

The new seven deadly sins: Who determines the gravity?

Sunday, 6th April, 2008

By Angela Hill

HAVING pride, envy, gluttony, lust, anger, greed, or sloth, used to be the main concerns of Catholics wanting to go to heaven without spending time in purgatory, but the list of sins just got longer.

In fact, the list doubled when the Vatican recorded seven new sins earlier this month. While the new sins are decidedly less vague than the originals ones, I think they are likely to face more questions and greater opposition.

The newest seven sins are: polluting the environment, being obscenely rich, dealing drugs, abortion, social injustice, engineering genes, and engaging in cross-generational sex.

The first question I heard was: “What does being obscenely rich mean? Does it mean you just have lots of money, or you got the money in obscene ways?” Many people think being rich is dependent on the context.

A man in the village who has enough to feed his family and have money leftover, may seem obscenely rich to neighbours that do not have enough.

What about someone such as the former richest man in the world, Bill Gates. He gained his wealth through hard work, then used his fortunes to create the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which gives money to researchers and NGOs. They want to help discover paediatric ARVs, microbicides, etc.

Wealth like that should not be punished, or should it? What will the punishment be? Are ‘Hail Marys’ and ‘Our Fathers’ enough to solve the problem? However, punishing those who pollute the environment does not seem like a bad plan.

If you drop litter on the street, then go to confession and the priest has you pick three bags of garbage that could be a useful way of curbing the trash problem in Kampala.

I would say the idea that dealing drugs is a sin is universally acceptable. I know many people who believe that those that deal in illegal drugs, especially to children, deserve the worst of the worst.

The idea that abortion is a sin on the same level as drug dealing and cross-generational sex may create a stir, especially among women’s rights advocates. Can you have a sin that is applicable only to women?

According to the Archbishop of Kampala, Cyprian Kizito Lwanga, in his Easter sermon: “All those sins are covered by the Ten Commandments. When you commit abortion, that is murder. One of the commandments says: ‘Thou shall not kill.’”

It is an ethical debate that has raged for a long time. When is a foetus actually a person, is a question that can lead to conversations that can last longer than I have space for, but having the word from the Vatican that abortion is a one-way ticket to hell, means women are likely to face more obstacles.

Same goes for those scientists who work in genetic and stem cell research. How does being told they will go to hell affect a scientist, who may not believe in hell anyway?

Engaging in cross-generational sex, is for the most part, a no brainer. Sex with someone much younger than you, especially if they are a minor, is wrong. The billboards towering over drivers at the Entebbe Road round-about asks it right: “Would you like this man to be with your teenage daughter? Then why are you with his?”

But what is a generation? What about some of those movie stars, for example Demi Moore, 45, has been married to Ashton Kutcher, 30, since 2005. Is that socially acceptable; is it acceptable in the eyes of God?

That leaves social injustice. Again I would suggest this one is easy; genocide, human rights abuses and inequality are all bad. Yet, who is held responsible for this?

There are many leaders on the African continent who are responsible for the horrific state some of their citizens live in. I am sure I do not need to mention names. Or can we all be held responsible for allowing injustice to happen?

If our neighbour is starving, is it our responsibility? What about bigger cases: The fighting in Southern Sudan or northern Uganda? If we are not actively participating in the resolution, should we be asking for forgiveness?

Christians are expected to avoid the original seven deadly sins by adhering to the seven holy virtues: chastity, abstinence, temperance, diligence, patience, kindness and humility.

These will also help with the new sins.
The Vatican website does not say much about the new sins. In fact, I could not find anything.

But all that aside, I am looking forward to a cleaner Kampala, fewer drug dealers, and a narrowing gap between the rich and the poor.