This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.
The worst type of sin, in fact the only “mortal sin” which has enslaved man for the greater part of history, is the institutionalized sin. Under the institution, vice appears to be, or is actually turned into, virtue. Apathy toward evil is thus engendered; recognition of sin becomes totally effaced; sinful institutions become absolutized, almost idolized, and sin becomes absolutely moral.
Apathy | Evil | History | Man | Mortal | Sin | Virtue | Virtue | Vice |
If the opposing sides are Christian, they share the sin of caricaturing their Faith; if the one side is Christian, and the other is not, Christians sin gravely if they are the aggressors.
To put the temporal in the place of God, when done with full deliberation, is the sin of pride in all its gravity.
Deliberation | God | Pride | Sin |
Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, fully Sir or Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan
It is not God that is worshipped but the group or the authority that claims to speak in His name. Sin becomes disobedience to authority and not violation of integrity.
Muriel Spark, fully Dame Muriel Sarah Camberg Spark
It is impossible to repent of love. The sin of love does not exist.
The pleasure of sin is of short duration… It operates on a law of diminishing returns. The more often it is repeated, the more familiar with its face, the less pleasure sin gives.
Sin is disappointing. Whoever got out of sin half as much pleasure as he expected?
Fulton Sheen, fully Archbishop Fulton John Sheen
No amount of libido, or passion, no external force, and no inner prompting to sin can make the human action of man anything but free. We are never tempted beyond our strength. Every moral failure is ours alone, because our choices are our own.
Action | Failure | Force | Man | Passion | Sin | Strength | Failure |
Franz Werfel, fully Franz Viktor Werfel
The basic formula of all sin is: frustrated or neglected love.
Our freedom depends on our willingness to see Perfection. The imperfection that we have been taught to see has led only to suffering... Perfection is not a standard to be achieved, but a truth to be acknowledged. It is not the difference between us and God, but the hallmark of our unity with Him. And the honoring of Perfection is not a sin of vanity, but the humble acceptance of our identity as offspring of the Eternal.
Acceptance | Eternal | Freedom | God | Imperfection | Perfection | Sin | Suffering | Truth | Unity |