Sins and Celebrtities

The Vatican has updated the list of mortal sins to include 21st century issues that are sure to make most people turn a blind eye like they do to the traditional mortal sins such as stealing, murder and adultery as contained within the Ten Commandments.

The new list, put together by the Catholic Church following discussions between the Pope and his priests include genetic experimentation, social injustice, causing poverty, excessive wealth and drug abuse. To a population that is increasingly sceptical about faith, the new list has certainly raised eyebrows. The Church, particularly the Catholic Church has had its fair share of critics in the recent past concerning the conduct of some of its members. It’s rather hypocritical to suggest that excessive wealth be included in the list given that the Vatican is one of the richest institutions in the world.
The Vatican is a highly politicised organisation with extensive links to the powerhouses of the world. Many of the causes of inequality, excess and injustice is perpetrated by the very people who work in tandem with the Church. Take Tony Blair, a “devout Christian” whose rationale for going to war was that he was guided by a need to do the right thing. Decisions made daily at all levels in the socio-economic and political spheres is often done with little or no vocal resistance or condemnation from the church.

With more than two third of f the population of this country believing that religion is the root cause many of the world’s problems, the Church needs to do more to engage the people in the very basics because the root cause of many of the new sins they have highlighted stems from people not believing in anything in particular today.

At the same time as the Vatican was updating its sin list, the Association of School and College Leaders, were telling us that bad parenting, the demise of the family meal and cult of celebrity has left children without basic skills. They say that adults were failing to teach morals and needed to rediscover what being a parent means. It’s a sad indictment that teachers have to take on the role of the family. For many children born to single parents, often a teenager herself the school is increasingly the only stable aspect of their unstable life. When society pays more attention to celebrities than church leaders and social advancement is seen as something that be bought with a lottery ticket, is it any wonder we are producing a generation of children whose void is filled by cult of celebrity?