You do not have to be a Catholic to recognize and acknowledge some of the fundamental insights formulated by the earliest theologians concerning human nature. There are just seven deadly sins, and those have always determined our existence in moral and ethical terms. Those sins need to be combatted, but they are widespread and deeply rooted in all of us. In many ways, the teachings of the seven deadly sins address universal concerns, and they appear to be highly applicable to our post-modern existence much more than many people might expect. I would argue that those early Catholic authors such as Saint John Cassian were amazing psychologists long avant la lettre and knew so well human weaknesses, transgressions, and unethical or immoral behavior.

Seven deadly sins, nor more and nor less, and once you have probed them closely, you might realize how much they are at the root of virtually all the problems contemporary society has to fend with. Those sins are, in sequence, envy, gluttony, greed, sloth, lust, anger, and pride. Let me suggest that we utilize this list as a litmus test for our politicians and, alas, also the supreme court justices, if not for our society at large. If we look at our former president, we recognize easily the applicability of the list of seven deadly sins. Pride and anger, check – see the entire ideology of MAGA and the call for public violence, such as on 1-6-2020. Then lust, check– see the recent jury decision against Trump’s sexual transgressions in the past; sloth, check – see this lazy man who spent more time on the golf course than in the White House. Greed and gluttony, check – see the pomposity of the Trump mansion in Florida, for instance. And envy, check – see the bile that Trump and his minions have tried to pour on Biden and the Democratic party.

Unfortunately, Trump has kidnapped the Grand Old Party and has perverted its original mission and ideology. I am afraid that there is nothing left of honor and dignity among many of the Republican Senators and Members of Congress, not to speak of some of the Justices of the Supreme Court. You can no longer read the news any day without learning of more scandals, primarily by Republicans. They target and harm in a vicious and highly irresponsible way senior citizens, women, children, ethnic minorities, veterans, students, professors, and ordinary taxpayers across the country, driving an ideological agenda that is obsessive and, if you will, simply sinful. The public media, such as CNN, have no shame left and provide their forums for the vilest statements by Republican governors, senators, and the former president. Tragically, since they all promote or represent the seven deadly sins, sections of the public afraid of social and economic changes within our society and driven by the same sinfulness (pride, anger, gluttony, envy, etc.), blindly follow them, lending their votes for deeply ill-conceived politics and legal decisions. When those leaders argue that those seven deadly sins are simply acceptable and okay for themselves, such as when the supreme court judges quietly accept huge bribes and then vote in favor of the lobbyists, or when the former president claims that he can sexually abuse any woman he wants, then the fundamental ethical principles that bond us together as a society are in danger of getting lost.

The teachings about the seven deadly sins, unfortunately, hold true, maybe today even more than ever before. You cannot have politics without ethics, but these two dimensions are apparently drifting far apart, especially among certain politicians who openly display self-interests, material greed, pride, envy, anger, and outright hostility against anyone who holds different political views. Mass shootings are the ‘fad’ of the day, and there is one political party in our country that constantly laments those fatalities and prays for the victims, but then promotes the complete availability of guns even further. The degree of hypocrisy could not be greater. America, wake up!