by George McNaughton
Member since:
April 30, 2006

Roman Catholic Church Moves Toward Establishing Pollution As A Sin: Is This A Good Thing?

March 10, 2008 11:33 AM EDT
views: 278 | comments: 10

In America, perhaps due to the prevalence of stronger fundamentalist millennial notions, Christianity has not been at the forefront of concern for the environment.  In fact, some Christian groups because of their belief that in imminence of the millenium.

So the question is, is the Vatican's move towards making pollution a sin, a good thing? or not?  And if it is a good thing?  Should the Evangelicals start asking, "What would Jesus do with respect to polluting rivers, creating smog, contaminating the soil, and climate change?"

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Comments: 10

John S. (arizona) Mar 10, 2008, 12:21pm EDT
Ha, I don't know.... but, when cleaning up other people's trash in the forest the thought passed through my mind, "what a sin"..... ;-)
Take care.
Poliwonk USA Mar 10, 2008, 12:22pm EDT
Pollution has been added as a Venial (lesser) sin, which are often absolved in confession, similar to eating meat on Fridays of Lent. They also added 7 Mortal sins, which include Abortion, Pedophillia, etc. These sins cast the soul into eternal damnation, and deserve greater attention.
Joe T. Mar 10, 2008, 12:35pm EDT
The Catholic Church is hardly an authority. Pollution has always been a sin. So what, if the church says so.
George McNaughton Mar 10, 2008, 6:02pm EDT
Well, am not an authority on Catholic doctrine. It appears to me that it has not been considered much of a sin by many Protestant groups or by my own faith. I think there is something to be said for working with different Church groups to look upon pollution as a sin, at least then perhaps they would spend a little of their political capital on things that affect all of us -- rather than the constant discussion of abortion, Creationism, and gay marriage. One would think this a no brainer for groups that get so pumped on Creationism -- one would think that they would have more reverence for the Creation. So much religious hot air gets expended on the manner of the creation, but so little religious air time is devoted to its destruction.
Dundrave of The Black Conclave Mar 10, 2008, 7:58pm EDT
I gotta agree with Joe - Walmart is pretending to go green - and make a buck off it too... I doubt that the motivation is really to clean up the environment ... Maybe just to distract from the ever present sex abuse cases that riddle the news.
George McNaughton Mar 11, 2008, 3:51pm EDT
Dunnie, no they also added some sex crimes to the list as well, actually I think they may have bumped them up a notch.
Debra C. Mar 12, 2008, 12:05am EDT
I'm not sure establishing punitives help people do what is right, but I will say that those who feel "having dominion" over the earth means "consuming everything viable from the earth" are not reading Scripture with discernment.
George McNaughton Mar 12, 2008, 11:20am EDT
Well, right now the Evangelicals have obtained considerable political clout by shouting out that abortion and gay marriage are sinful and that a nation which condones them is sinful, seems like some of that energy could get directed towards environmental issues. I suspect that hearing from the pulpit that it is sinful not to recycle, or to work for a company which pollutes, etc. might be a potent influence on behavior. That would seem to me to be preferrable than having a corporate raider being praised as righteous.
Brain W. Mar 12, 2008, 12:43pm EDT
The Church shouldn't be one to talk about sin....they are still covering up all those sex scandels and refuse to still now admit it's still happening....How does a sinner talk about sin when they are sinners themselves?? Can someone tell me that??? There is a reason there should be separation of Church and State....one should not talk of another sinner when one is a sinner themself...They have so much wealth but the poor goes poorer supporting them how does that redeem them from being sinners themself???
George McNaughton Mar 12, 2008, 4:46pm EDT
Well, hypocrisy when it comes to religion is as old as religion itself. But, because the established religious authority is hypocritical (not saying it is fair to brand the entire Catholic clergy for the transgressions of a few) does not mean that we should do away with the concept of sin altogether. I do believe that a concept of sin is important in maintaining social cohesion and a healthy society. Obviously, not all sins should be a crime, but that does not mean that the promotion of the sinful nature of certain behavior is not a good thing. It could be very useful to society in general if various religions which have heretofore been silent on the subject of environmental sins, started proclaiming such conduct sinful. It seems to me that we should be encouraging religions to explore environmentalism to determine whether there are some aspects of human and corporate activity that should be condemned as sinful in addition to being harmful or criminal.

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