Commissioned for the corporation’s Heaven and Earth Show, the poll found that most people thought that, of the seven ancient sins, only greed has survived the ages.

Anger, gluttony, sloth, envy, pride and lust were said, when they were first named, to have resulted in eternal damnation. But they were temporary after all. They have been replaced by cruelty, adultery, bigotry, dishonesty, hypocrisy and selfishness.

Of the 1,001 adults questioned in the Mori poll, only 9 per cent said that they had never been guilty of succumbing to any of the ancient sins, with anger being the most committed.

Lust is the sin that most people — 41 per cent of men and 26 per cent of women — say that they would enjoy indulging in, according to the survey. More women (20 per cent) than men (15 per cent) would enjoy committing gluttony.

Anger is committed most, followed by pride, envy, gluttony, lust, sloth and greed.

Ross Kelly, presenter of The Heaven and Earth Show said: “Attitudes towards sin have changed. We’re less concerned with the seven deadly sins and more concerned about actions which hurt others. For instance, we’re less bothered about anger than we are about cruelty. While many of us actually enjoy lust, we still frown on adultery.” The deadly sins were originally devised by Pope Gregory the Great in the 6th century.

They are the vices that he thought were most at odds with divine love. The Church refined the list over the centuries to the present seven.

Of the new sins, 39 per cent of people thought greed to be the worst, followed by adultery (11 per cent), bigotry (8 per cent), dishonesty (7 per cent), hypocrisy (6 per cent), cruelty (6 per cent) and selfishness (5 per cent).

Just under 80 per cent admitted getting angered, 63 per cent said they had fallen victim to pride, 61 per cent to envy, 59 per cent to gluttony, 57 per cent to lust, 56 per cent to sloth and 54 per cent to greed.

UNHOLY SEVEN

What people voted for in the BBC poll:

Cruelty: 39 per cent
Adultery: 11 per cent
Bigotry: 8 per cent
Dishonesty: 7 per cent
Hypocrisy: 6 per cent
Greed: 6 per cent
Selfishness: 5 per cent

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