Out with the old deadly sins, in with the new

According to a new poll, the original list of cardinal sins - anger, gluttony, sloth, envy, pride, lust and greed - do not have the power they once had.

Instead, a new list of contemporary taboos has been drawn up to capture the essence of modern morality.

Perpetrators of the original sins were believed to suffer eternal damnation - but only greed has survived the ages to still be considered especially bad. The poll, commissioned by the BBC, found that people now believe cruelty - not one of the original seven - is Britain’s worst sin.

Almost four in ten selected cruelty as the worst modern-day sin, followed by adultery, bigotry, dishonesty, hypocrisy, greed and selfishness.

However, there seems little chance that the new list will usurp the original one, which has held sway for more than 1,400 years. It is thought that the Greek theologian, Evagrius of Pontus, first drew up a list of eight wicked human passions, which were then whittled down by the 6th century pope, Gregory the Great, to the seven vices he thought were most at odds with divine love.

A spokesman for the Catholic Church in Scotland said that, while the list was interesting, it showed the public had completely lost any sense of fundamental wrongs: "The new list is an interesting variation of the first, but introducing people to the concept of sin has well and truly disappeared.

"Scotland is driven by moral relativism and it has reached a point where right and wrong do not figure in most people’s lives. The more important thing is to reintroduce the concept of sin and the fact that there are moral rights and wrongs," he said.

Dr Peter Donald, convener of the panel of doctrine for the Church of Scotland, said: "I find it interesting that the top three of the new sins are ones that affect others when we commit them. The original list dealt mainly with those which offend God, though that isn’t to say this one wouldn’t, but it is a symptom of humanistic morality."

Dr Donald also voiced regret that the new list did not contain a sin that embodied sin.

The crime author, Ian Rankin, known for the moral ambivalence of his characters, was not persuaded by the modern list.

He said: "The fact that cruelty came top of the deadly sins doesn’t surprise me. But it’s such a broad category, from squashing a spider to dropping an atomic bomb, so it’s almost meaningless. When people commit something which is considered sin, it usually takes in a couple of categories."

Greg Hemphill, comedian and co-writer of Chewing the Fat, said he thought "hypocrisy" was a poor choice: "Hypocrisy is a bit lame. It’s a bit like saying ‘you shouldn’t leave your lavatory seat up after you pee’, everybody does it. I think we’re all hypocrites in modern society."

Annabel Goldie MSP, the justice and home affairs spokeswoman for the Scottish Conservatives, felt "self-delusion" would be a suitable addition.

She said: "I think a modern affliction we have is the fact that we delude ourselves in relying on material possessions to make us think that we are doing all right, that we are doing a good job. I think of the original ones, gluttony is a major factor in today’s society."

The survey of 1,001 adults, compiled for BBC1’s The Heaven & Earth Show, also asked which of the original Seven Deadly Sins people had committed. Although the majority admitted to committing many of them at some time, a saintly 9 per cent claimed to have never sinned.

The poll found that while anger was the sin committed most often, lust was the traditional taboo most people claimed to enjoy indulging in - although this was especially popular with men, while women veered towards gluttony as a favourite.

Ross Kelly, the presenter of The Heaven & Earth Show, said: "Attitudes towards sin have changed. We’re less concerned with the Seven Deadly Sins and more concerned about actions which hurt others. For instance, we’re less bothered about anger than we are about cruelty; and while many of us actually enjoy lust, we still frown on adultery."