Mahatma Gandhi's seven social deadly sins

You have heard of the seven deadly sins:
Pride, lust, envy, greed, sloth, wrath and gluttony.
These are concerned with an individual's misbehavior.
But recently I saw another list from Mohandas Gandhi. These are described by Gandhi as the seven social deadly sins.

They are striking in their implications. I will list them and make a brief comment on each.

• Politics without principle. It seems that the lack of principle here is that one will do anything to get elected. And after being elected, one will do or say anything, take any bribe, bend any law to remain in office. Politics becomes a self- serving enterprise.

• Wealth without work. This brings to mind, among others, a certain hotel heiress, whose life has been corrupted by having it handed to her on a silver platter. I recommend the movie "The Ultimate Gift" as a corrective for this social sin. Gandhi himself set aside time for manual labor - perhaps as a reminder that he was not above the rest of humanity.

• Commerce without morality. Morality means having a sense of right and wrong. But to have a moral sense, one must have a conscience. Making and selling toys with high amounts of lead to enhance the bottom line shows a lack of morality. Devouring the natural resources of the planet and holding these resources hostage indicates that a company's bottom line has gone too low.

• Pleasure without conscience. Hedonism is a sister to lust. The lack of conscience in this case is that life is about my gratification. Everything, everybody serves to titillate and pleasure me. To degrade others, to use others - whether it's pornography or putting two people in a cage to pound one another - inevitably ends up degrading those who take pleasure in such activities. When an entire society, or individuals in a family, pursue this lifestyle, there is, to use a phrase, "the devil to pay."

• Education without character. In many instances, our "higher" education has become a job factory. Our classrooms produce people who are technology whizzes, but who will never read a book or newspaper. Nor will they understand the great issues that formed our society, and those same issues which continue to face our society. Without a grounding in the humanities, without being exposed to ideas and thinkers that form character, we can be one dimensional. That is, we have a job but no soul.

• Science without humanity. When the science for the atomic bomb was developed someone said that we had let the genie out of the bottle. Atomic energy has been a great boon for humanity as well as a great threat. We are on the verge of cloning humans. We have designer jeans to suit our taste. Will we have designer babies to suit our taste? The key here is "humanity." Will we serve our human needs, or will Mr. Hyde be the result of Dr. Jekyl's experiments?

• Worship without sacrifice. This seems to me to be the case when religion becomes entertainment. Which church has the biggest orchestra and can send chills down my spine? This seems to be the case when we preachers only preach the prosperity gospel. This seems to be the case when prophets cease being prophetic and tell people only what they want to hear. The central message is: Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ will come again. We are called to die and rise with Christ. As with Christ that necessarily involves sacrifice.

Gandhi, although he was not a Christian, read the Gospels of Christ more than most people. The message of Christ inspired Gandhi to be a reformed and visionary. Gandhi's seven deadly social sins are food for thought indeed.
By Father Fred Nijem is the priest and pastor at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Warner Robins.