Child abuse is considered the greatest sin by third-level educated Irish people aged between 20 and 35, according to a new survey. Just 8 per cent said God had no influence in their lives.
Four per cent thought sex was only for married people while three-quarters believed marriage should be for life. The deepest wish of all was for loving, lasting relationships.
The survey of 707 people aged between 20 and 35 was conducted by Father Desmond O'Donnell, an Oblate priest, between March 1999 and March 2000. Its results will be published in the January issue of Doctrine & Life magazine. Father O'Donnell is a psychologist and a former member of the Olates general council.
The survey was conducted among young professionals, students, student nurses, trainee gardaí, student teachers, IT students, and army cadets. ...
For 67 per cent of them sin was about hurting others, while 64 per cent felt it was also about not being true to oneself.
The four practices they considered least wrong were casual sex, missing Mass, and contraception, while living with someone you intended to marry was least sinful of all.
For 45 per cent, sex was about total and final commitment with 8 per cent saying it was a bit of fun.Some 26 per cent felt sex was a sign of close friendship. The four gravest sins, in descending order, were child abuse, physical abuse within marriage, verbal abuse within marriage, and abortion.
Only three per cent believed there was no afterlife, with 62 per cent sure there was.
Some 98 per cent of the women and 95 per cent of the men surveyed remained close to their parents. Only 1 per cent took drugs regularly, though 28 per cent had experimented with them.
The people most admired by the group are Nelson Mandela and John Hume.
It was found that "women have stricter moral standards than men"; that "women have a deeper sense of spirituality than men"; and that "mothers massively surpassed fathers in communicating love to these young people".
Father O'Donnell concluded that "Cardinal Ratzinger's description of the successful modern middle class as having 'a liberal-radical ideology of individualistic, rationalistic and hedonistic stamp', is not an accurate description of third-level educated young Ireland at this time".