Whether Cursing Is a Graver Sin Than Backbiting?
Objection 1: It would seem that cursing is a graver sin than
backbiting. Cursing would seem to be a kind of blasphemy, as implied
in the canonical epistle of Jude (verse 9) where it is said that
"when Michael the archangel, disputing with the devil, contended
about the body of Moses, he durst not bring against him the judgment
of blasphemy [Douay: 'railing speech']," where blasphemy stands for
cursing, according to a gloss. Now blasphemy is a graver sin than
backbiting. Therefore cursing is a graver sin than backbiting.
Obj. 2: Further, murder is more grievous than backbiting, as stated
above (Q. 73, A. 3). But cursing is on a par with the sin of murder;
for Chrysostom says (Hom. xix, super Matth.): "When thou sayest:
'Curse him down with his house, away with everything,' you are no
better than a murderer." Therefore cursing is graver than backbiting.
Obj. 3: Further, to cause a thing is more than to signify it. But the
curser causes evil by commanding it, whereas the backbiter merely
signifies an evil already existing. Therefore the curser sins more
grievously than the backbiter.
_On the contrary,_ It is impossible to do well in backbiting, whereas
cursing may be either a good or an evil deed, as appears from what
has been said (A. 1). Therefore backbiting is graver than cursing.
_I answer that,_ As stated in the First Part (Q. 48, A. 5), evil is
twofold, evil of fault, and evil of punishment; and of the two, evil
of fault is the worse (I, Q. 48, A. 6). Hence to speak evil of fault
is worse than to speak evil of punishment, provided the mode of
speaking be the same. Accordingly it belongs to the reviler, the
tale-bearer, the backbiter and the derider to speak evil of fault,
whereas it belongs to the evil-speaker, as we understand it here, to
speak evil of punishment, and not evil of fault except under the
aspect of punishment. But the mode of speaking is not the same, for
in the case of the four vices mentioned above, evil of fault is
spoken by way of assertion, whereas in the case of cursing evil of
punishment is spoken, either by causing it in the form of a command,
or by wishing it. Now the utterance itself of a person's fault is a
sin, in as much as it inflicts an injury on one's neighbor, and it is
more grievous to inflict an injury, than to wish to inflict it, other
things being equal.
Hence backbiting considered in its generic aspect is a graver sin
than the cursing which expresses a mere desire; while the cursing
which is expressed by way of command, since it has the aspect of a
cause, will be more or less grievous than backbiting, according as it
inflicts an injury more or less grave than the blackening of a man's
good name. Moreover this must be taken as applying to these vices
considered in their essential aspects: for other accidental points
might be taken into consideration, which would aggravate or extenuate
the aforesaid vices.
Reply Obj. 1: To curse a creature, as such, reflects on God, and thus
accidentally it has the character of blasphemy; not so if one curse a
creature on account of its fault: and the same applies to backbiting.
Reply Obj. 2: As stated above (A. 3), cursing, in one way, includes
the desire for evil, where if the curser desire the evil of another's
violent death, he does not differ, in desire, from a murderer, but he
differs from him in so far as the external act adds something to the
act of the will.
Reply Obj. 3: This argument considers cursing by way of command.
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