The Atheist Blogger

The Vatican has released an updated list of the seven deadly sins for the modern world:

1. Environmental Pollution
2. Genetic Manipulation
3. Accumulating excessive wealth
4. Inflicting poverty
5. Drug trafficking and consumption
6. Morally debatable experiments
7. Violation of fundamental rights of human nature

I agree with 1, 4, 5, and 7, but the other three are really just plain nonsense.

Firstly, genetic manipulation is one of the most promising forms of health care, and can lead to the eradication of practically every illness and disorder known to man. Personally, if I had the choice to make sure my child was born without any life threatening illnesses, I’d say “yes” without another thought.

Accumulating excessive wealth is fine, as long as you do something good with it. I suppose a good example here would be Bill Gates, who has accumulated a massive fortune, and is now donating more and more each year to charities. Hardly a bad thing.

Finally, “morally debatable experiments” can cover a wide range of things, and I think most rationalists would agree that if a procedure could save many, even if it was “morally debatable”, it would be a justified reason to proceed.

It is humourous to note that the Catholic Church has broken quite a few of the new sins already (namely 3, 4, and 7) in it’s lifetime, so it’s quite ironic they would endorse something that by definition condemns them to hell.

Link from BBC News