Why the Church Is Not “Relaxed About Sin” — And Why It Matters Today
A provocative column in The Spectator recently claimed that “the Catholic Church has always been remarkably relaxed about sin.” At first glance, it sounds like a clever barb — but what happens when you take a step back and actually look at what Catholic teaching says about sin, conscience, and the dignity of the human person? In our latest featured article from Catholic Unscripted , “Remarkably Relaxed About Sin? Assisted Suicide and the Catholic Church,” Dr Anthony McCarthy pushes back against this claim and explores why the Church takes sin very seriously — especially in the context of today’s debate over assisted suicide. This piece unpacks what it really means to take sin seriously — not as a moralistic pastime, but as a commitment to the salvation of souls and the dignity of every human life. It reminds us that Catholic moral teaching isn’t about paperwork or guilt-tripping. It’s about the profound conviction that wrongdoing harms the soul and that redemption through rep...