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Not to be confused with the Ten Commandments, the non-biblical Seven Deadly Sins originated in the pre-Judeo-Christian era and are a collective of mortal crimes or passions. It's these sins — greed, lust, gluttony, sloth, anger, envy, and pride — that syndicated Seattle sex columnist Dan Savage blithely explores in his latest book, Skipping Towards Gomorrah. All in the name of research, Savage goes on a wild romp through the United States, including the casinos of Las Vegas and the streets of New York, where he discovers that temptation abounds.
To be sure, sinning is a way of life in America. Gambling, prostitution, adultery, recreational drugs and sundry other indulgences may be vices for some, but a sinner's paradise for others. Sinning has no boundaries and no one is exempt from its seduction. Some people sin in secret, while others proudly celebrate it. Sin lurks around every corner. It's not difficult to find sin, or to commit it. And for some, sinning is fun: sinning is a one-way ticket to happiness, not hell! Your favourite decadent triple-chocolate-fudge cake isn't called sinful for nothing! The marketing catch phrase, "it's so good, it's sinful" carries a lot of pull in a society hell bent on sin.
But if sinning seems synonymous with pleasure, be warned. Sinners always sin at their own peril — too much pleasure sometimes results in a hefty price to pay while still on earth. Former President Bill Clinton's lusty affairs resulted in numerous global public sex scandals and a stripping away of his dignity and integrity, for example. Enron and WorldCom raised the bar on corporate greed. Even Catholic priests are regrettably no strangers to lustful sin, and the church of fast food has caused an obesity epidemic in America that proves the sin of gluttony is hardly starved for attention.
So what's a good citizen to do? Do we give in to the temptations of the seven deadlies or strive for saintly innocence and goodness? Is it possible to somehow justify the lure of couch potato slothfulness? For Dan Savage sinning is not only justifiable it is a fundamental right. As he writes "The right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness means that each of us is free to go our own way, even if the ways some of us may choose to go seem sinful or shocking to some of our fellow citizens. America is at its best when our freedom to go our own way is restricted only when, as Thomas Jefferson said, "[our] acts are injurious to others."
So this season, it seems, you don't have to feel too bad if that second plate of turkey and stuffing proves irresistible. You might not even worry about lustily kissing your missus under the mistletoe. You're just exercising your civil liberties...
Click here for more information on Skipping Towards Gomorrah.
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