The Hindu : International : Deadly sins get an update

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Feb 08, 2005

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International

Deadly sins get an update

By Richard Jinman

LONDON, FEB. 7. Stay in bed all day, gorge yourself on chocolate and lust as much as you want — it's not going to land you in hell.

Most people believe the seven deadly sins are out of date, and that traditional transgressions such as sloth, gluttony and lust should not stop you passing through the pearly gates into Heaven.

Cruelty is considered the worst sin anyone can commit nowadays, followed by adultery, bigotry, dishonesty, hypocrisy and selfishness. Of the seven deadly sins enumerated in their present form by Thomas Aquinas in the 13th century, only greed is still viewed as a reliable passport to eternal damnation.

Anger is the traditional sin we commit most often, followed by pride, envy, gluttony, lust, sloth and greed. Not surprisingly, we rather enjoy lust and gluttony, but get the least pleasure from anger and envy, said a survey of 1,001 adults for the BBC.

Nine per cent of respondents said they had never committed any of the seven deadly sins.

Roger Trigg, a professor of philosophy at Warwick University , said the word sin could seem "terribly old fashioned and judgmental." But he added that a close examination of the list of present-day vices suggested it was not so different to the seven deadly sins.

"I wouldn't say it was only a case of semantics because there may be a shift in moral perceptions, but very often people are complaining about the same things that the old words were trying to pick out," he said.

"For example, anger would often result in cruelty and many people's complaint about lust is that it's a form of selfishness."

But Ross Kelly, presenter of the BBC programme that commissioned the survey, believes there has been a genuine shift in attitudes towards sin.

- Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004

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