Nothing Left But Sinners and Victims (Cooper's Last) (Essay‪)‬

That an institution such as the Catholic Church could release a list of contemporary 'sins', only to have it subsequently mocked or ignored by most sectors of the mainstream media, suggests both the declining force of mainstream religion and the moral irrelevance of contemporary ideas of sin. The list, a supplement to the traditional seven deadly sins (pride, greed, lust, gluttony, etc), was significant, however, because the Church wanted to highlight the category of socialsins that went beyond the individual. The new sins, 'polluting, genetic engineering, obscene riches, taking drugs, abortion, paedophilia and causing social injustice', are, according to Gianfranco Girotti, head of the Apostolic Penitentiary, 'a corollary of the unstoppable process of globalisation'. This attempt to recast sin within a social setting is suggestive. However, given that the current bestseller list includes at least four works attacking the very idea of religion in the name of social progress, any bid by the mainstream Church for social relevance was bound to be a fraught exercise. It's easy to see why the new sins are an easy target for critics of the Catholic Church. The list has a somewhat ad hoc feel. Apart from being vaguely defined as social sins they seem to have little in common. If the original seven sins all share a common element of excess, in terms of passions and appetites, it's hard to imagine any common rationale underpinning the new sins. How might the creation of social injustice be compared to drug abuse? How might one condemn obscene riches in the same breath as paedophilia? Green or left-leaning groups might welcome the condemnation of genetic engineering or obscene wealth, but baulk at the simple-minded condemnation of abortion. In this sense the list of new sins is disappointing to anyone keen to see the church tackle issues of a social, rather than simply private, nature. While one might welcome some of the ideas, it is hard not to see the list as reactionary. The notion of a social sin gave no account of how the social might be thought of.