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Catholicwoman11
Guest
On the way home from confession , I ran a red light. It was a split second decision,but I don’t know if it is a mortal sin?
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Verbum
Guest
Hi Catholic,
The state cannot oblige you under pain of sin. Your actions have to be judged on their own merits. Crossing on a red light at three in the morning in a residential neighborhood may be naughty, but I doubt it could count even as a venial sin. Doing it on a busy commercial street in the middle of the day could be a grave matter, but to commit a mortal sin, you have to aware of the gravity at the time you are driving. Untoward behavior while driving may be a sign of underlying personal problems that should worry you at least as much as the moral aspect.
Verbum
The state cannot oblige you under pain of sin. Your actions have to be judged on their own merits. Crossing on a red light at three in the morning in a residential neighborhood may be naughty, but I doubt it could count even as a venial sin. Doing it on a busy commercial street in the middle of the day could be a grave matter, but to commit a mortal sin, you have to aware of the gravity at the time you are driving. Untoward behavior while driving may be a sign of underlying personal problems that should worry you at least as much as the moral aspect.
Verbum
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puzzleannie
Guest
did you intend to commit a mortal sin? then you did not commit a mortal sin. every ill-advised action is not a sin
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duneman
Guest
only to the family you kill in the process
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Pfaffenhoffen
Guest
Actually it is a grave action on driving rules. I do not speak on mortal sin, for it is complicated to talk about sins.
But … it depends on where you are.
Here, in Germany no one drives through red lights, even if there is no car around.
But in Italy, they do it often but they do it carefully, they know how to do it othewise the streets would be pile up with cadavers. When askes in a Tv interview what to do about this dangerous situation, a Chief Police Officer replied: “Well, you know, I think that it helps to ease the traffic up”. Viva Italia !
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Castelan
Guest
I don’t know who this policeman was, but in Italy, if we drive through red lights we get fined, our licences get a negative point and eventually, if we persist, we lose the driving licences. I live in Italy.
As for whether it is a mortal sin or not, that depends on whether the driver who has disobeyed the highway code has caused death, or has caused others to cause death, in which case of course it is a mortal sin. When one is driving one should be in a state of consciousness and awareness of one’s responsibilities towards others. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
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Joe_Kelley
Guest
If it creates a potential danger to others I think it is a grave sin. Whether it is mortal would depend on whether you had full knowledge and freely consented.
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fred_conty
Guest
Depends on circumstances.
If blantenly running a red light when there is busy traffic, then probably yes. Why? Because the person is indangering the life of others as well as their own. Everyone expects the other driver to observe the traffic laws and if they have the green, they are counting on going thru the light and depending on the others to stop.
If the red light is run thru at a non busy stop light, and the person is sure that there is
not cross traffic comming, then it wouldn’t be a sin, but if caught, the fine must be paid.
If the person just didn’t see the stop and ran thru it, then it would not be a sin unless the
person was careless in their driving habits.
If blantenly running a red light when there is busy traffic, then probably yes. Why? Because the person is indangering the life of others as well as their own. Everyone expects the other driver to observe the traffic laws and if they have the green, they are counting on going thru the light and depending on the others to stop.
If the red light is run thru at a non busy stop light, and the person is sure that there is
not cross traffic comming, then it wouldn’t be a sin, but if caught, the fine must be paid.
If the person just didn’t see the stop and ran thru it, then it would not be a sin unless the
person was careless in their driving habits.
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fred_conty
Guest
Joe, grave is mortal.
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Joe_Kelley
Guest
No, grave is only one of three requirements, all three must be present for the sin to be mortal.
Catechism of the Catholic Church.
I can judge the sin, but not the person. I can judge if a sin is grave; I cannot judge if it is mortal, i.e. whether the doer had full knowledge and gave full consent.
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Pfaffenhoffen
Guest
Sorry for the Italian example. I read it in the newspaper and the newspaper are not always right. thanks for the correction.
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Big_Dummy
Guest
depends if you are purposely running the light, see Romans 13 or if you did so due to human weaknesses, poor eyesight, tired at night, light changed when you did not expect it and you were too close to stop safely, poor driver.
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jmcrae
Guest
I think that’s the least of your worries.
What you need to do is consider how you came to run the red light - were you speeding, and couldn’t slow down quickly enough when the light turned yellow? Were you distracted by a cell phone, food, drink, music, or something else that was in the car with you? Were you daydreaming? Were you driving too fast for the road conditions and the condition of your tires, even if you were within the speed limit? Did your brakes fail? Were you being tailgated, and couldn’t slow down quickly enough for fear of being hit from behind?
And how can you avoid running red lights in the future?
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