Lust for money the big sin today

Your report “Lust and pride: how men and women sin” (February  25-March 3) refers.

I find it scandalous that data from the confessional should be used in this way. Be that as it may, anyone with any knowledge of statistics and market research will know that the results gleaned from this process are highly questionable. They are based on a sample — Catholic men and women who go to confession — which cannot be generalised to “men and women”.

It also neglects to interrogate what people in the sample consider sinful. It probably reflects the Catholic Church’s obsession with sexuality to the neglect of issues of social justice and business integrity.

We are in the grip of a major economic meltdown, entailing untold suffering for millions, especially the poor. Both religious and lay commentators agree that the causes of the meltdown are the unbridled quest for wealth and the accumulation of material goods, with a concomitant quest for power.  These are achieved by dishonesty, both in the embezzlement of public funds and in the grossly dishonest reporting of financial data.

So lust — not of the flesh, but for wealth and power — and dishonesty, are the predominant sins of our day.

Ed Dexter, Johannesburg