To put cruelty first, she writes, is to disregard the idea of sin as it is understood by revealed religion. Sins are transgressions of a divine rule and offenses against God. However, crueltythe willful inflicting of physical pain on a weaker being in order to cause anguish and fearis a wrong done entirely to another creature. When we think only of religious sins as the ultimate bad stuff we want to avoid, we end up manufacturing justifications for horrible atrocities; her example is the European conquerors coming to the New World, encountering its Indigenous peoples, and rationalizing genocide as the will of a Christian God. If we elevate crueltytransgressions against other humansto the top of the worst crimes we can commit list, we can no longer find and exploit any such loopholes.

How to Be Perfect by Michael Schur