Our friends at Ellison Research have recently done some research on sin. (I am skipping the obvious joke that we all have done a lot of personal research on the subject.)
You can read their public studies here. The sin study (with charts indicating percents who agree something is a sin), is particularly interesting and can be found here.
When I grew up (Catholic), I often wondered how the priest would decide the severity of sin and thus the amount of penance. This chart may help... the more people who agree it is sin, the more Hail Marys you should recite for penance. (I always imagined there was a chart on the other side of the confessional wall, so this may actually be the evidence I was seeking.)
And, in case you are wondering who agrees with what sin, below are the sins. Enjoy!
The behaviors a majority of all Americans describe as sinful are:Adultery 81%Racism 74%
Using “hard” drugs such as cocaine, heroine, meth, LSD, etc. 65%
Not saying anything if a cashier gives you too much change back 63%
Having an abortion 56%
Homosexual activity or sex 52%
Not reporting some income on your tax returns 52%
A number of other behaviors are considered sinful by a significant portion of all Americans, although not a majority. These are:
Reading or watching pornography 50%Gossip 47%
Swearing 46%
Sex before marriage 45%
Homosexual thoughts 44%
Sexual thoughts about someone you are not married to 43%
Doing things as a consumer that harm the environment 41%
Smoking marijuana 41%
Getting drunk 41%
Not taking proper care of your body 35%
Then there are behaviors that fewer than one-third of all Americans see as sinful:
Gambling 30%Telling a “little white lie” to avoid hurting someone’s feelings 29%
Using tobacco 23%
Not attending church or religious worship services on a regular basis 18%
Playing the lottery 18%
Watching an R-rated movie 18%
Being significantly overweight 17%
Not giving 10% of your income to a church or charity 16%
Drinking any alcohol 14%
Working on Sunday/the Sabbath 14%
Spanking your child when he/she misbehaves 7%
Making a lot of money 4%
Dancing 4%
Interesting that more people consider spanking a sin than consider dancing a sin. They must not have ever seen me disco in the 70's...
The Christian Post has the story here.
Most importantly, sin is sin. God is God. And forgivenes comes through Jesus work on the cross.
Comments (5)
As usual Ed, well said and thought provoking!
Posted by Pete Wilson | March 14, 2008 3:54 PM
Posted on March 14, 2008 15:54
Gee Ed,
You are so old fashioned. Don't you know that priests use MSin (Microsoft) to calculate hail mary's? Other programs are iSIN (from Mac), SinCalc (open source), and SinEliminate (Dell). If you are really bad, you can go to eLance.com and contract out some of the hail marys. Or if you are a sinner on the go, you can always try the Hail Mary Topical Ointment, now available at your drugstore, over-the-counter.
Is sarcasm on that list?
Posted by Michael | March 15, 2008 1:43 PM
Posted on March 15, 2008 13:43
What's really interesting is that for 18% of the respondents, the Motion Picture Association of America assumes the role of "Interim Most High God" when it comes to movie ratings. After all, they are the experts. LOL! Thanks for the laugh, Ed.
Posted by michael | March 15, 2008 1:50 PM
Posted on March 15, 2008 13:50
Face it Ed: Catholics set free in Jesus become Pentcostals, but they feel GUILTY about their enthusiasm, so they hunker down to become Southern Baptists instead! I know this to be true!!
My grandmother made sure I had a rosary and I've said more than my share of Hail Marys. Bet you had to say more Our Father prayers because they took longer (I decided that if my sin was REALLY bad, that was when the priest gave my the Lord's Prayer to recite what seemed like 100 times).
Sin IS sin, but the stats above continue to point our culture's Moral Compass south.
Posted by Jeanne s. | March 15, 2008 10:48 PM
Posted on March 15, 2008 22:48
Having been on the mission field for 15 years I can attest that America has a lot more Christian fabric left in it that one would guess. Yes, there has been significant erosion, but compared to other nations there is reason for hope that many Americans still have a sense of right and wrong.
This latent acceptance of God’s truths is always a good springboard for reintroducing the gospel even in Eastern & Western Europe. Being in Eastern Europe I am thankful for Catholic/Orthodox foundations that allow for some common ground as we introduce the gospel of grace.
Thanks
Posted by Mike Watkins | March 17, 2008 12:22 PM
Posted on March 17, 2008 12:22