Isn't this a bit redundant? The drugs one for example would be covered by greed and in any case kind of conflicts with the church's habbit of giving alcohol to kids. It takes it away from the fundamental motivators of sin to specific 'crimes', which is always dangerous for a conservative religious group.

http://news.smh.com.au/vatican-overhauls-list-of-mortal-sins/20080310-1yfi.html

There used to be just seven, but the list of sins that could threaten your mortal soul just got a whole lot longer.

The Vatican has overhauled its list of mortal sins, adding several more to cope with the age of globalisation.

The new sins take aim at those who undermine society in far reaching ways, including by taking or dealing in drugs, polluting the environment, and engaging in "manipulative" genetic science, The Times of London reports.

Also new to the list are paedophilia, abortion, and social injustices that cause poverty or "the excessive accumulation of wealth by a few".

They join the long-standing evils of lust, gluttony, avarice, sloth, anger, envy and pride as mortal sins - the gravest kind, which threaten the soul with eternal damnation unless absolved before death through confession or penitence.

The church's revised position came as the Pope lamented the "decreasing sense of sin" in today's "secularised world," and falling rates of Roman Catholics going to confession, The Times reported.

Bishop Gianfranco Girotti, head of the Apostolic Penitentiary, the Vatican body which oversees confessions and plenary indulgences, said after a week-long Lenten seminar for priests that surveys showed 60 per cent of Catholics in Italy no longer went to confession.

He said priests must take account of "new sins which had appeared on the horizon of humanity as a corollary of the unstoppable process of globalisation".

"Whereas sin in the past was thought of as being an individual matter, it now had social resonance," he was quoted by The Times as saying.

"You offend God not only by stealing, blaspheming or coveting your neighbour's wife, but also by ruining the environment, carrying out morally debatable scientific experiments, or allowing genetic manipulations which alter DNA or compromise embryos," he said.

Sprintcyclist wrote on Mar 10^th, 2008 at 9:43pm:


they do....

"Love the lord your god with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and love your neigbour as yourself."

the new sins are a just public relations stunt to get the message out to the world on 7 things people should be concerned with.

Musician - hahaha, yes, I quite like catholics too.

Cant really agree on changing the Bible to suit modern circumstances. Bibles are written from the original manuscripts.
Jesus seems to cover everything.

I see catholics as being a subset of christianity. Not their own belief system.
never heard of the "born again" death cult !!
Any cult is weird.

Take care

midnightcowboy - in the words of someone else
"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."
Matthew 6:34


Thanks, you have reminded me of something from long ago.
Will post it when I have finished it.

easel wrote on Mar 13^th, 2008 at 9:06pm:


I know I'll regret saying this, but after all, it's just a religion (and I'm just a heathen)
I think of it as 'Jesus and the Popeteer'

Did you ever see one of these glove puppet acts where the puppet 'whispers' in the puppeteer's ear and the puppeteer repeats it for the entire audience to hear?

"Ooooh! mein gott! ist das richtig, Jesu? ....Jesus just told me you are a very naughty boy!" 

You can flay me for heresy now.

Quote:




most christians dont get all up in arms with people like you, its just you only hear the ones who do.

Quote:


cool, hard to know what people mean on here unless you know their post history. i have no problem with taking the piss of christians etc, long as you dont dis my god himself .

Sprintcyclist - good question. These are topics that politicians tend to drop like a lead balloon, so it's good to air them here. 

With both of these religions, there is also a racial connotation of sorts applied by society at large.  The term 'anti-semitic' tends to be reserved for Jews, although it really applies to Arabs too. Strictly speaking, not all Muslims are Arabs and not all Jews are racially akin, and Semitic is a language group rather than a racial group. Regardless of all that, discrimination is in the eyes of the person being discriminated against. Generally I think I'd prefer to avoid being branded a racist and just drop the subject of Islamic and Judaic humour altogether, although I have had some good banter with some Muslim friends in the past.

I don't think it comes as a big surprise that some Jews and Muslims are very touchy about humour directed at them.

Christianity on the other hand has no such racial connotations, but again, some are more thick skinned than others. I have a lot of time for Catholics in particular. Father Bob Maguire in particular is a glowing example of a Christian who 'walks the talk'. Catholics should be proud to have him.