Glenn G.

Mabula March 4, 2019

BSBA - III-B Ms. Ma. Victoria C. Diolola

7 Social Sins
1. "Bioethical” violations such as birth control

Whenever a wedding ceremony ends, the newlywed are taksed to go about

and procreate taking from thr exact words, "humayo kayo at magpakarami". God
wants us to introduce new lives into this world and the primary reason why sex
was invented is to reproduce and not merely for bodily pleasure. Birth control does
not only violate the code of procreation but it also gives humans the freedom to
enjoy sex without the consequences. The use of contraceptives – the deliberate
interference with the natural process of fertility in order to prevent conception - is
widespread across the global community. Hormonal contraceptives are considered
convenient and effective methods of spacing children – or even not having children
at all. Meanwhile, barrier methods of contraception are hailed as the answer to
international problems such as AIDS and other Sexually Transmitted Infections
(STIs). Together, both methods allow individuals to exert full control over their
reproductive lives. However, the effects of widespread contraceptive usage are
perhaps not as clear as they first seem. Hormonal contraceptives come with their
own health risks – some of which will remain unknown. They also raise a host of
medical questions concerning their mechanism of action and whether or not
contraceptives have an abortifacient effect (a drug which allows conception to
occur yet renders the woman’s womb hostile to implantation – effectively, working
as an early abortion). This is particularly problematic for Judeo-Christian or
Islamic tradition where life begins at conception.

2. "Morally dubious" experiments such as stem cell research

Stem cells may be obtained from various sources like from cord blood or bone
marrow, but researchers say that these adult stem cells are much less promising
than stem cells that are extracted from embryos. Unfortunately, the process of
harvesting stem cells destroys the embryo. Destroying embryos is not illegal.
Indeed, many embryos left over from the process of in vitro fertilization are
routinely destroyed. I shall call the embryos slated to be discarded by fertility
clinics doomed embryos.(1) Embryos have the right to life (2) destroying embryos
is prima facie wrong. Indeed it is murder. Nor can destroying embryos be justified
on the grounds that doing so is likely to reduce suffering and save lives, for (3) it
is prima facie wrong to sacrifice some people for the sake of others. Ideally,
destroying embryos should be illegal (4) it is prima facie wrong to encourage future
immoral acts. Thus it is wrong to use embryonic stem cells from new lines (5) it
is prima facie wrong to benefit from immoral acts committed by others. According
to this principle, to use embryonic stem cells at all is to become morally tainted, that
is, complicit in their destruction. Thus it is wrong to use embryonic stem cells from
existing lines.

3. Drug abuse

Historically, the excessive use of alcohol and other substances has been seen
as a behavioral issue and categorized as a sin. The natural response to addiction,
therefore, has been to preach against its abuse. In contrast, most mental health and
medical professionals refer to addiction as a disease. As such, it is not something
against which preaching would be effective. No one preaches against pneumonia or
cancer, for instance. As a disease, the treatment of addiction is to be approached
through psychological and medical means. It is a problem over which the addict has
no control, and therefore assertions that drinking or drug use is a sin are
considered counterproductive.

4. Polluting the environment

Pollution damages the environment and does harm to humans and other
animals. It creates many problems, from lung cancer to the greenhouse effect.
Oblivious to the damage they cause, rednecks continue to throw trash out of the
window instead of walking two feet to a garbage can. The laziness of these types of
people creates problems for the entire planet. People must realize that something
needs to change. In today’s society when something gets the slightest bit old, it must
be thrown away and a new one replaces it. The citizens blame the government for
their trash problem. The over consumers must take the blame for this situation. The
last major source of pollution is in the businesses. In a few rare instances,
businesses dumped their waste products into streams, lakes, or rivers. This may
seem like a relatively small occurrence that does not affect most people. However,
horrible consequences result every time a company pollutes a water system.
Mutations and human death have occurred as a direct result of illegal dumping.
Illegal dumping contaminates our drinking water and soil. The pollutants dumped
by industry are so concentrated that a single barrel can destroy an entire lake's
ecosystem.
5. Contributing to widening divide between rich and poor

Widening income inequality is the defining challenge of our time. In advanced

economies, the gap between the rich and poor is at its highest level in decades.
Inequality trends have been more mixed in emerging markets and developing
countries, with some countries experiencing declining inequality, but pervasive
inequities in access to education, health care, and finance remain. The natural effect
of lower tax rates is that the wealthiest get to keep more of their income, which
tends to widen the gap between rich and poor. Lower tax rates, may also act as an
incentive for top earners to negotiate even higher compensation; the lower the tax
rate, the more of each additional dollar the worker gets to keep.

6. Excessive wealth

Too much” is almost never a good idea. This is especially the case when you
endanger others or yourself by your behaviour. Drinking alcohol is not a sin, but it
is a sin to drink too much (Rom. 13:13). Gambling is betting money or other things
of value in a game of chance. In itself this is not a sin. The danger is that you can get
carried away by greed or passion for the game. The biblical principle of justice
demands that each person and family has access to productive resources so that if
they act responsibly, the can earn a decent living and be dignified members of
society. Whenever the extremes of wealth and poverty make it difficult or prevent
some people from having access to adequate productive resources, then that
inequality is unjust, wrong, sinful, and must be corrected. The second limitation on
inequality flows from the biblical understanding of sin and power. In our broken
world, whenever one group of people acquires excessive unbalanced power, they
will almost always use it for their own selfish advantage.

7. Creating poverty

One form of social sin is poverty, which involves an evil by depriving people of
essential goods in the midst of abundance. This is evident in the disparity of goods
between countries and among individuals, even in the prosperous United States.
This deprivation could be described as human bondage because social and
economic barriers make it especially difficult to escape poverty. For example, as
low-skill jobs decrease and access to job training is restricted, people in poverty get
trapped in long-term unemployment.
Generational poverty is another example of this bondage. When people grow up in
the poverty of their parents, grandparents, extended family and social group, the
deprivation of essential goods becomes an accepted norm — a fixed part of life.
People in generational poverty learn to routinely make the decision to buy food
rather than pay rent — a situation resulting from inadequate income and
unaffordable housing. That leads to housing evictions, a common occurrence for
people in generational poverty. Job turnover is another factor of bondage. People in
poverty commonly have issues with reliable transportation and child care due to a
lack of resources, which can affect job attendance and result in recurring
unemployment. Barriers to overcoming poverty arise from routine and institutional
social behavior — direct and indirect. An example of direct behavior is cutting or
eliminating funds for social programs such as food and rent assistance and job
training. This action increases the barriers and reinforces the bonds of poverty. An
example of indirect behavior is advertising job opportunities in a way that people in
poverty don’t see, thus restricting access to those jobs.

References:
Barton, D.S. (2018). Persistence of poverty. Retrieved from
http://www.catholicmessenger.net/2018/08/social-sin-and-the-persistence-of-
poverty/

Nara, F. (2016). Excessive wealth is sinful. Retrieved from

https://www.tweetingwithgod.com/en/content/446-are-gambling-drugs-alcohol-
or-excessive-wealth-sinful

Ginham, J. (2012). Economic inequality. Retrieved from

https://www.salary.com/articles/why-the-gap-between-rich-poor-is-widening/

Warton, H.W. (2009). Pollution and the environment. Retrieved from

https://www.bartleby.com/essay/Pollution-and-the-Environment-F3JTTXZZVJ

Madueme, H. (2018). Addiction as sin. Retrieved from https://journalofethics.ama-

assn.org/article/addiction-and-sin-recovery-and-redemption/2008-01

Curzer, H. (2010). Ethics of stem cell research. Retrieved from

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03605310490514225#

Lumen, L.K. (2017). Art of contraception. Retrieved from

http://www.bioethics.org.au/Resources/Resource%20Topics/Contraception.html