7 new mortal sins, per Vatican
March 13, 2008 10:30 PM   Subscribe

Vatican lists seven new mortal sins. Not recycling? Go to hell.
posted by wallstreet1929 (71 comments total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
I love how much less of a sinner I am under these rules. And they said the new guy was going to take the Church back to the dark ages!
posted by padraigin at 10:33 PM on March 13, 2008


3.) polluting the environment

Sins of emission?
posted by dgaicun at 10:39 PM on March 13, 2008 [31 favorites]


I hear David Fincher's attached, and that Kevin Spacey could really use the work.
posted by dhammond at 10:40 PM on March 13, 2008 [3 favorites]


The Vatican has deemed "becoming obscenely wealthy" a mortal sin? That's rich.
posted by Elsa at 10:41 PM on March 13, 2008 [25 favorites]


Well, I can get behind a few of these, and the ones I don't agree with aren't that bad. Even though #2 doesn't sound that good to me, maybe it'll take some power away from pharmaceutical companies.
It would be great if the Vatican took it upon itself to ex-communicate (that is, tell people not to buy from) companies which break these rules.
posted by Citizen Premier at 10:44 PM on March 13, 2008


The new sins seem awfully specific. Seems too they were already covered in the first list.
posted by owhydididoit at 10:49 PM on March 13, 2008 [1 favorite]


1.) genetic modification

... Because we said so.

2.) carrying out experiments on humans


Clinical drug trials are a sin now. God thinks in mysterious ways.

4.) causing social injustice
5.) causing poverty

According to whose politics? I was not aware anyone was "pro-poverty". Sounds nice on paper anyway.


taking drugs

See #2. No coffee for you tomorrow. Catholics are Mormons and Scientologists rolled into one now.
posted by dgaicun at 10:50 PM on March 13, 2008 [8 favorites]


Needs more Venial Sins.
posted by uncanny hengeman at 10:58 PM on March 13, 2008 [1 favorite]


How does the Catholic Church fix it so that, upon the commission of a mortal sin and the subsequent death of the offender, the soul goes straight to hell? So last week I could happily drive an SUV home from my $600,000 a year sheep cloning project with no fear at all of hell, and this week I'm in violation of three new mortal sins, well, how does the new policy get made and actually implemented?

Open minded as I am, it's pretty hard to take mortal sin seriously if a press release can change the rules of the game.

But if there are Catholics out there on MeFi for whom this stuff is serious business, I'd love a primer on the mechanics of changing the rules for the soul's destiny. Or at least a link to something that tells me how it all happens.
posted by salishsea at 11:00 PM on March 13, 2008


Needs more Cardinal Sins.
posted by uncanny hengeman at 11:05 PM on March 13, 2008 [2 favorites]


...last week I could happily drive a SUV home from my $600,000 a year sheep cloning project...

Superb work!
posted by uncanny hengeman at 11:07 PM on March 13, 2008


Weird list.
posted by awesomebrad at 11:07 PM on March 13, 2008


The Sinful Septagon (via)
posted by Rhaomi at 11:10 PM on March 13, 2008 [1 favorite]


Prediction: Points 1 and 2 will become a big deal amongst American religious types, the others not so much.
posted by Artw at 11:12 PM on March 13, 2008


My 7 would be.

1. Littering

2. Not being aware of your surroundings

3. Not being a "morning person"

4. Being a drama queen

5. A2M

6. Refusing to admit you are wrong

7. Joining in the circle jerk of life
posted by uncanny hengeman at 11:21 PM on March 13, 2008 [2 favorites]


Funny how their religion keeps changing over the years.
It's like they realize that things evolve over time.....
posted by Bighappyfunhouse at 11:24 PM on March 13, 2008 [3 favorites]


No. 7 + Communion wine = lulz.
posted by TheOnlyCoolTim at 11:37 PM on March 13, 2008 [2 favorites]


Fak. 7 new sins to maintain. Think I'll start making my own lists.
posted by telstar at 12:21 AM on March 14, 2008


Superb work!

If you can get it.
posted by PhatLobley at 12:35 AM on March 14, 2008


This has been so weirdly distorted in the media that it's difficult to tell what was originally said or meant. It seems to have originated in a worthy but dull interview given to an Italian newspaper by a middle-ranking Vatican bureaucrat, in which he explained, in impenetrable Vatican-speak, that 'repentance is taken to mean opening one's self to others when resolving issues found within his or her own special social sphere within which one expresses his very own existence and does so by offering his own contribution of clarification and support for those having such problems'. (No, I don't know what it means either, but perhaps it makes more sense in Italian.) A religious affairs correspondent in the English press, looking for a way to turn this into a viable news story, hit on the idea of spinning it as 'Vatican issues new list of seven deadly sins'. It was a slow news day, and the story was widely picked up and reprinted as an amusing religion-lite filler suitable for the run-up to Easter. Pretty soon a thousand bloggers were seated at their keyboards typing variations on 'what is this shit?' and 'why should I care anyway?' Now the Church has issued a clarification explaining that it was all a mistake (no new sins, just new forms of the old ones) and blaming the media for getting it all wrong. And so the world wags on.

We now return you to your scheduled "LOLCATHOLICS!" thread.
posted by verstegan at 1:00 AM on March 14, 2008 [31 favorites]


6.) becoming obscenely wealthy
posted by TheVatican at 4:21 AM on March 14


Eponysterical!
posted by JaredSeth at 2:46 AM on March 14, 2008


Can anybody help me with number 6) becoming extremely wealthy? I'd really like to collect the set.

Deadly Sins - gotta catch'em all!
posted by Sparx at 3:58 AM on March 14, 2008 [3 favorites]


this struck me as entirely silly when i read it yesterday. the "new" sins are all covered in some manner by the originals (no pun intended).
posted by quonsar at 4:57 AM on March 14, 2008


8) using your cell phone in public
posted by pyramid termite at 5:52 AM on March 14, 2008 [1 favorite]


I think it should be a deadly sin to write "LOLCATHOLICS" in caps with that holier-than-thou attitude just to spoil everybody's fun.
posted by kolophon at 5:56 AM on March 14, 2008 [2 favorites]


1.) genetic modification
3.) polluting the environment
7.) taking drugs

Poor smokers :(
posted by Freaky at 6:18 AM on March 14, 2008


Well, one could could construe that #7 includes pharmaceutical drugs, which actually help people, so if you take them away, you're actually causing poverty and social injustice. Hmmm.
posted by fungible at 6:23 AM on March 14, 2008


2. Not being aware of your surroundings

If this means eternal agony for those playing ipods too loud all the way from London to Cornwall, IN THE QUIET CARRIAGE! then your religion sounds quite appealing.
posted by biffa at 6:40 AM on March 14, 2008


8) Blind faith. In anything.
posted by ZenMasterThis at 6:43 AM on March 14, 2008 [1 favorite]


Oooh! The new 2008 line! Just in time, cuz the 2007 line was SO overplayed.
posted by Cat Pie Hurts at 6:51 AM on March 14, 2008


Bighappyfunhouse: you need to update your abrahamic monotheist scorecard -- the roman catholic church is okay with evolution. IIRC, official dogma is that the invisible hand of god guided evolution in a spiritual fashion.
posted by rmd1023 at 6:58 AM on March 14, 2008


According to this, the Catholic Church regards contraception as a deadly sin. Which is. The most ironic thing. Ever.

Ever.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 7:05 AM on March 14, 2008 [3 favorites]


But rmd1023, then he can't just make fun of the stupid catholics...
posted by garlic at 7:08 AM on March 14, 2008


Can we get seven new virtues to go with?

Sadly, these lack euphony. The old standards you can imagine engraved on the bases of grave statues scowling down at you. These- they look more like index headings.
posted by IndigoJones at 7:09 AM on March 14, 2008


7.) taking drugs

Which drugs, the ones that are illegal or the ones that are legal? Because it's an interesting theological question to map a sin to local statutes. If I smoke pot in Holland, I don't sin, but if I smoke it in the U.S., presumably I am sinning?

And I guess "molesting altar boys, lying about it under oath, and continuing to be a priest in another parish without the slightest guilt or remorse" once again didn't make the cut.

The Vatican has deemed "becoming obscenely wealthy" a mortal sin? That's rich.
posted by Elsa at 1:41 AM on March 14


The Vatican isn't a person, therefore it has no soul, therefore it can't sin. And they keeps the priests and nuns dirt poor. Nice loophole, right?
posted by Pastabagel at 7:20 AM on March 14, 2008 [1 favorite]


The stickiest one is "don't pollute." Each letter of this post is now a little plume of sin. And according to the "recycling is a waste of time" guy from last week, we'd better all learn to grow lots of mushrooms to eat all the drink containers.
posted by gorgor_balabala at 7:30 AM on March 14, 2008


It's abit different from the ones I've found...

. Environmental pollution;
· Genetic manipulation;
· Accumulating excessive wealth;
· Inflicting poverty;
· Drug trafficking and consumption;
· Morally debatable experiments;
· Violation of fundamental rights of human nature.

Its a clear sign the Vatican will start acting like a political party if you see this...
posted by insatiablehee at 7:48 AM on March 14, 2008


7.) taking drugs

But Jesus drank wine!
posted by patr1ck at 7:59 AM on March 14, 2008


verstegan already covered it, and just to play Catholics' advocate here, it is easy to mock these if you take them too literally. It would be more appropriate to interpret them like so:

1.) genetic modification
Playing God.

2.) carrying out experiments on humans
Playing God, and intentionally harming others for one's own profit (a la The Constant Gardner)

3.) polluting the environment
We ALL do this, yes, but obviously this means intentional pollution on a large scale, again for one's own profit, not the pollution that's caused as a byproduct of daily life. It also, though, encourages people to consider the effects of their daily lives and see how they could reduce their footprint.

4.) causing social injustice
5.) causing poverty

Again, these are about intentionally inflicting harm on others as well as ignoring the effects of one's actions upon others. And, again, they urge people to think about the consequences of their lives.

6.) becoming obscenely wealthy
Nuff said. The best one of the lot, in my opinion.

7.) taking drugs
This is about addiction, about putting a drug ahead of the more important things in your life, as well as about trafficking in something that causes human misery. It can mean smack, but it can also mean caffeine for those people who can't function without 7 cups a day, it can mean cigarettes, etc. (Although, I'm sure your local priest would differentiate between being a regular at Starbucks and sucking cock in an alleyway for a crack rock -- the former gets you far fewer Hail Mary's in penitence).
posted by papakwanz at 8:05 AM on March 14, 2008 [3 favorites]


So...Carry on as before. God's not a stickler.
posted by gorgor_balabala at 8:14 AM on March 14, 2008


9) posting a double to Metafilter
10) starting a new Obama/Clinton thread every day
posted by lukemeister at 8:23 AM on March 14, 2008


6.) becoming obscenely wealthy
Nuff said. The best one of the lot, in my opinion.


Really? Im kind of curious where all these big donations to all the world's non-profits will come from then. Seriously. How much of our "do good" people are funded by rich people? How many secular charities rely on rich people just to get by? I mean theyre not all Paris Hilton. I imagine that if we truly destroy the rich that will create a power vacuum that will be filled by government social services and organized religions like Catholicism. Hmm, funny how that works out for them. No more big donations to planned parenthood. No more literature on contraceptives. No more cheap contraceptives. No more family planning. Funny coincidence that!

I also dont think any organization that is both opposed to contraception and abortion should be telling people what to do. Considering how their numbers are shrinking in the west, we're possibly seeing the pathetic and desperate grab for attention they are hoping will revitalize the true believers.
posted by damn dirty ape at 8:24 AM on March 14, 2008


papawanz: verstegan already covered it, and just to play Catholics' advocate here, it is easy to mock these if you take them too literally. It would be more appropriate to interpret them like so:

1.) genetic modification
Playing God.

2.) carrying out experiments on humans
Playing God, and intentionally harming others for one's own profit (a la The Constant Gardner)

How do you define "Playing god"? Manipulating and taking advantage of the properties of a system? If that's the case, I guess we'd all better become Amish then, because most of our lives are based on using technology which takes advantage of the properties of our natural system, physics. Electricity, combustion engines, etc., are inventions that do precisely that. How is genetic modification and experimentation any different? I think the whole "Intentionally Harming others" thing is already covered by an existing sin.

6.) becoming obscenely wealthy
Nuff said. The best one of the lot, in my opinion.


I would disagree. Besides the obvious irony Elsa pointed out, there are obscenely wealthy people who are philanthropists, and what's wrong with that? Again though, the negative aspects of this are already covered.

I agree with most of the other points, but aren't they just more specific versions of other, existing sins? Why do we need new, more specific ones? Catholicism is like that sitcom you grew up on, but now that you're older you've realized it's actually quite boring and irrelevant so they are trying to add a new character to spice things up but it just isn't working.
posted by patr1ck at 8:26 AM on March 14, 2008


Even if they're not officially seven updated sexy new sins, the attitude towards science shows that they've learned nothing since Galileo.
posted by liquidindian at 8:35 AM on March 14, 2008


5.) Cars shall not be for you an expression of power and domination, and an occasion of sin.

So, my 24 cylinder, 16 liter, 2500 horsepower, fire breathing 4x4, with the mini-bar, fold out doggy-style rear seat, and machine gun mount now qualifies me for a one way ticket to Hell?

God damn it.
posted by quin at 8:58 AM on March 14, 2008


Yes, patr1ck. The Church is clearly stating that it is a mortal sin not to be Amish. And, dgaicun, what could they possibly mean other than "clinical trials of Tylenol are an offense to God." Also, East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 doesn't seem to have a firm grasp on while irony is.

My theory as to why these religion threads are all so lame is that half the posters insist on interpreting everything in a willfully ignorant way in order to set up their tired one-liners.

Of course there's no such thing as a "new" mortal sin, and all of these are clarifications of previous teachings for This Modern World. Like, duh, guys. And, dudes, if there's one thing the Catholic Church isn't short on, it's explanations and rationalizations, so you can do better than "because we say so."
posted by 1 at 9:08 AM on March 14, 2008 [1 favorite]


Should have clarified a couple of those. By "playing God" I mean that I think they mean the manipulation of genetic material & human beings without consideration of consequences and for the purposes not of improving the world and humans' life on the world, but for profit. As for the "obscenely wealthy" one, I mean that I think they mean the hoarding of money ($$ as an idol) for its own sake and the use of it strictly for personal gratification rather than, again, bettering the world.

And patr1ck, as verstegan pointed out, these are NOT 7 new sins. That's an inaccurate spin by American media. One Vatican official was pointing out how some of the common activities of modern society are, in fact, sinful, according to the Vatican's definitions.
posted by papakwanz at 9:11 AM on March 14, 2008


An oldie but a goodie:

I never said, "Thou shalt not think."
—God


Okay, you've got multiplying down. Now let's try replenishing for a while.
—God


I don't care who started it. Just stop it.
—God


If you seek to know my ways, read a damn science book.
—God


You'd better have stopped fighting by the time I get back, or you're all grounded.
—God


Six days? Yeah, right. I'm a scientist, not a magician.
—God


If I wanted you to have seven kids, I would have given you a bigger planet.
—God


You're not tracking those bloody footprints in here.
—God


E=mc². Yeah, that's one of mine.
—God


You can have another kid when you learn to take care of the first one.
—God


The dinosaurs didn't believe in you either.
—God


Excuse me? Where do you see my name on the front of the Bible?
—God


Only six thousand years old? Oh, that's a good one.
—God


Just look at this planet! Do you expect me to clean this up?
—God


I love Marilyn Manson, too. Maybe more than I love you.
—God


Here's a clue—if they say they're doing it in my name, they're lying.
—God


I'm flattered you liked my book so much. Now why don't you read something new?
—God


I'm concerned about children's education. I favor lower child-to-parent ratios.
—God


I gave you a bigger brain for a reason. Start using it.
—God


Want to know how old the earth is? Ask the earth, not the Bible.
—God


If you don't clean this place up, you won't get another millennium.
—God


I don't blame video games when my children start shooting each other.
—God


I like to kick things off with a bang. A Big Bang.
—God


If you didn't hear it straight from my lips, take it with a grain of salt.
—God


All this will someday be your children's.
—God


There is no such thing as killing in my name.
—God


Stop smirking, America. I'm talking to you, too.
—God
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 9:11 AM on March 14, 2008 [10 favorites]


Also, East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 doesn't seem to have a firm grasp on while irony is.

No sir. While irony is, I will always have a firm grasp on.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 9:48 AM on March 14, 2008


Genetic manipulation, eh?

Genesis 30:

31 And he said, What shall I give thee? And Jacob said, Thou shalt not give me any thing: if thou wilt do this thing for me, I will again feed and keep thy flock.
32 I will pass through all thy flock today, removing from thence all the speckled and spotted cattle, and all the brown cattle among the sheep, and the spotted and speckled among the goats: and of such shall be my hire.
33 So shall my righteousness answer for me in time to come, when it shall come for my hire before thy face: every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats, and brown among the sheep, that shall be counted stolen with me.
34 And Laban said, Behold, I would it might be according to thy word.
35 And he removed that day the he goats that were ring-streaked and spotted, and all the she goats that were speckled and spotted, and every one that had some white in it, and all the brown among the sheep, and gave them into the hand of his sons.
36 And he set three days' journey betwixt himself and Jacob: and Jacob fed the rest of Laban's flocks.
37 And Jacob took him rods of green poplar, and of the hazel and chestnut tree; and pilled white streaks in them, and made the white appear which was in the rods.
38 And he set the rods which he had pilled before the flocks in the gutters in the watering troughs when the flocks came to drink, that they should conceive when they came to drink.
39 And the flocks conceived before the rods, and brought forth cattle ring-streaked, speckled, and spotted.
40 And Jacob did separate the lambs, and set the faces of the flocks toward the ring-streaked, and all the brown in the flock of Laban; and he put his own flocks by themselves, and put them not unto Laban's cattle.
41 And it came to pass, whensoever the stronger cattle did conceive, that Jacob laid the rods before the eyes of the cattle in the gutters, that they might conceive among the rods.
42 But when the cattle were feeble, he put them not in: so the feebler were Laban's, and the stronger Jacob's.
43 And the man increased exceedingly, and had much cattle, and maidservants, and menservants, and camels, and asses.

Ooops!
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 9:49 AM on March 14, 2008 [2 favorites]


#3: "Give a hoot, don't pollute" would've been more fun.
posted by kirkaracha at 9:55 AM on March 14, 2008




If anybody considers themself a catholic, this is what they should be thinking when they read this:

1.) genetic modification

OH

2.) carrying out experiments on humans

SHIT

3.) polluting the environment

WE'RE

4.) causing social injustice

ALL

5.) causing poverty

GOING

6.) becoming obscenely wealthy

TO

7.) taking drugs

HELL

posted by tehloki at 10:14 AM on March 14, 2008


4.) causing social injustice
5.) causing poverty

According to whose politics? I was not aware anyone was "pro-poverty". Sounds nice on paper anyway.


I think they have a point, there are a lot of people who behave in such a way that it reduces some classes of people to poverty to support their overconsumption. Just because you haven't personally kicked a beggar in the teeth today doesn't mean that the way that you live (and more specifically spend money), couldn't help put money in the hands of the common folks, or alternatively continue to concentrate wealth in the hands of a minority of people.

I mean you could make a case that western consumption is built on the backs of asian workers who are denied human rights and who work inhumane hours. Just because we've managed to export the large labor force that we have always relied on, just because we don't have to look at it every day and try to rationalize, or feel shame, doesn't mean that it isn't still there propping up the upper classes. /marxistinflammatorystuff

According to this, the Catholic Church regards contraception as a deadly sin. Which is. The most ironic thing. Ever.

Ever.


I get why you could call the Church's position on contraception Bad or Wrong, inasmuch as it spreads AIDs or is bizarre doctrine about something pretty trivial, I just don't know if I think it is that Ironic per se. Certainly not the most ironic thing ever, but there may be something here I'm not getting. I demand explanation in a condescending tone! (Do I demand in a condescending tone or do I want the explanation to be in a condescending tone....)
posted by SomeOneElse at 10:28 AM on March 14, 2008 [1 favorite]


It's ironic because, for example, I knew this guy in Africa who died of AIDS. The Catholic Church says, if you use a bit of latex on your dick, you are committing a mortal sin. The irony is that it is the Catholic Church's sin that is resulting in such an insane epidemic of mortality.

John Paul II could have saved many thousands of people from slow agonising death, and from passing their disease onto their newborns, but he chose not to. Benedict XVI still has this opportunity and choses not to. Their sin is mortal.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 10:39 AM on March 14, 2008 [3 favorites]


For those arguing in favor of obscene wealth for philanthropists, I would posit that those are mutually exclusive terms. Philanthropy is by it's nature not obscene. Hoarding your money, so you can buy mirror plated Ferrari's just to sniff coke off of, while lighting your cigarette with burning hundred dollar bills is obscene.
posted by MrBobaFett at 10:59 AM on March 14, 2008


So basically it's "Don't be nouveau riche"
posted by Artw at 11:04 AM on March 14, 2008


Sinner over saint anyday!

I was on my way to hell anyways.
posted by winks007 at 11:17 AM on March 14, 2008


"LOLCATHOLIC": somebody who really likes LOLCATs
posted by LordSludge at 11:51 AM on March 14, 2008 [8 favorites]


East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94:

The pope told them to be monogamous, it's not the pope's job to tell you how to be safe when you sin. Of all the moronic accusations against Catholics blaming the Pope for AIDS has to be the clearest sign of a deranged idiot.
posted by furiousxgeorge at 12:33 PM on March 14, 2008


salishsea,

But if there are Catholics out there on MeFi for whom this stuff is serious business, I'd love a primer on the mechanics of changing the rules for the soul's destiny. Or at least a link to something that tells me how it all happens.

I'm not sure I would say this is "serious business" for me (kind of a lapsed Catholic myself) but I would like to respond to your question. Unlike some other denominations, Catholics do not believe that the bible is to be taken literally.

Bighappyfunhouse said:
Funny how their religion keeps changing over the years.
It's like they realize that things evolve over time.....


Well, yes, that's exactly how things are. Instead of taking scripture literally, it is interpreted by the church through tradition and doctrine, which change over time. That's why we're no longer burning witches and such. For the record, the Catholic Church is not opposed to evolution. Since we do not interpret the bible literally, Catholics are free to believe whatever we want about how life and the earth were created, as long as we believe in god.

salishsea said:
Open minded as I am, it's pretty hard to take mortal sin seriously if a press release can change the rules of the game.

That's not how it works, and the church is very clear on this: god decides what's right and wrong. The church simply tries to reflect god's will. These pronouncements are not set in stone. When it becomes obvious (even to the conservative hardliners) that a practice or rule is unjust, it is abolished. A press release is simply an effective way to broadcast the message.

The point is that what the church is saying here is that just because something (polluting, for example) hasn't been explicitly labeled a sin before, that doesn't mean it's not wrong.

1 said:
My theory as to why these religion threads are all so lame is that half the posters insist on interpreting everything in a willfully ignorant way in order to set up their tired one-liners.

A-fucking-men. Hmmm. That's probably a sin. Off to confession.
posted by tom_r at 12:55 PM on March 14, 2008


2008 will be remembered as the year Catholicism jumped the shark.

Because everybody seems to have forgotten the previous times.
posted by SevenPercentSolution at 2:46 PM on March 14, 2008


Of all the moronic accusations against Catholics blaming the Pope for AIDS has to be the clearest sign of a deranged idiot.

Wiki:At the beginning of the 21st century Christianity is probably the main religion in most of sub-Saharan Africa, while in the northern part of the continent it is a minority religion.

World region Adult HIV prevalence Total HIV cases AIDS deaths in 2005
(ages 15–49)

Sub-Saharan Africa 6.1% 24.5m 2.0m
Worldwide 1.0% 38.6m 2.8m
North America 0.11% 1.3m 27,000
Western Europe 0.3% 12,000

There are many Christians in sub-Saharan Africa (a good chunk of them probably Catholics) and the same area faces a crippling HIV/AIDS problem. The Pope doesn't think there's a problem teaching that using condoms sends you to hell. And, oh joy, most of the people still believing that sexual intercourse with a virgin will cure AIDS live in the same area. Mind elaborating what's moronic about the former accusation?

This isn't a LOLCATHOLICS, because it isn't about the believers. But the guys in their comfy Vatican homes who can influence these policies and don't? They are really sad.
posted by ersatz at 3:18 PM on March 14, 2008


If you read the news, you'll realize this works like carbon credits. You can trade.
Obscenely wealthy people who take drugs and pollute by flying all over the world will be OK if they help alleviate poverty.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 4:35 PM on March 14, 2008


Metafilter: changing the rules for the soul's destiny
posted by nax at 6:01 PM on March 14, 2008


ersatz seems to be having trouble distinguishing a religion from a public policy thinktank.
posted by 1 at 7:30 PM on March 14, 2008


Not being a "morning person"

See, not being a morning person is just something that "morning people" will never understand. Just like I can't understand people who go to sleep before 11pm whatthehelliswrongwithyoupeople
posted by Deathalicious at 9:41 PM on March 14, 2008


It's ironic because, for example, I knew this guy in Africa who died of AIDS. The Catholic Church says, if you use a bit of latex on your dick, you are committing a mortal sin. The irony is that it is the Catholic Church's sin that is resulting in such an insane epidemic of mortality.

yeah, but they think you don't use your dick until married to another person who also has never had sex, so if folks were able to play by those rules, there wouldn't be STDs (or - I suppose we don't know exactly how the very first case occurs, but they wouldn't be passed around). It's not ironic, really, just naive - it should definitely be considered more sinful to have pre- or extra- marital sex without a condom than with, but I don't think that they work in degrees...
posted by mdn at 10:12 PM on March 14, 2008


ersatz seems to be having trouble distinguishing a religion from a public policy thinktank.

Religions defined public policy for a long, long time and the less well-governed an area is, the higher their influence. We aren't talking about Spain here. Unless your point is that spiritual well-being makes it ok to have people dying from STDs. My retort to that is that the way Church teachings are explained changes all the time. Back when Chaucer wrote the Canterbury Tales, it was perfectly Christian for a prioress to tell a story about the baad Jews killing a child just because. Segregation was once considered normal too. The Church doesn't exist in a vacuum.
posted by ersatz at 5:59 AM on March 15, 2008


I love Marilyn Manson, too. Maybe more than I love you.
—God


I love this. It sums up so very many concepts in one neat and tidy package.
posted by bitter-girl.com at 6:31 AM on March 15, 2008


I'll pay attention to what the Pope has to say when he writes down "priests fucking little boys against their will is a sin".
posted by dasheekeejones at 12:37 PM on March 15, 2008


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