rlew.com

You may have heard that the Vat­i­can revised the list of Seven Deadly Sins to empha­size that sin is not just an indi­vid­ual mat­ter but has “social res­o­nance.” The new list is:

1. Drug abuse
2. Morally debat­able experimentation
3. Envi­ron­men­tal pollution
4. Caus­ing poverty
5. Social inequal­ity and injustice
6. Genetic manip­u­la­tion
7. Accu­mu­lat­ing exces­sive wealth

P.J. O’Rourke’s reac­tion to these new Seven Deadly Sins is hilar­i­ously tongue-in-cheek:

Not to argue the­ol­ogy with the Vat­i­can, but envi­ron­men­tal pol­lu­tion is hardly among Satan’s strongest temp­ta­tions. Pol­lu­tion is not a pas­sion we resist with an agony of will for the sake of our immor­tal souls. I’ve been to par­ties where all seven of the orig­i­nal dead­lies were on offer in car­load lots. Never once have I heard a rev­eler shout with evil glee, “Let’s dump PCBs in the Hud­son River!” …Unfor­tu­nately Bishop Girotti’s late-model sins make as lit­tle sense as a Jere­miah Wright ser­mon. They have no grav­i­tas. Imag­ine the reac­tion in the con­fes­sional when you say, “Father, I have littered.”

At some point I’ll have to draft up my own list of seven deadly sins. I think “smug­ness” might be at the top of the list. Kyrie Elei­son!