Is Smoking Morally Wrong?

[ 14 ] October 4, 2011 AD |

Is smoking cigarettes a moral issue? If one were to rate moral problems of the day would smoking cigarettes even end up on the list? I ask these questions, because if we listen to mainstream culture it is the one issue that they are more than willing to warn kids of the danger of How Do I Get My Boyfriend Back Fast . It can be rather annoying that we teach kids not to smoke, and display countless graphic pictures to warn them of the health problems associated with it, but when the abortion debate comes up, mainstream culture does everything to discourage them finding out the facts. Obviously the smoking issue is nowhere near the abortion debate in terms of gravity, but that leads me to ask; how serious is it?

From a personal standpoint I have never been a fan of smoking. I was blessed to have good friends and grew up in a place where smoking had become socially unacceptable. When I was a teenager I thought I was “Miss- all-knowing” on the subject, and never failed to engage others in a debate surrounding the facts. I will never forget the day I was visiting a well-known Catholic college, and ended up sitting down to a meal with a bunch of seniors. Somehow the topics turned to smoking, and before we knew it we were engaged in a solid debate. More than one of us was smoking in a totally different sense of the word after that!

So let’s look at some of the facts…
-Kids are picking up smoking at the alarming rate of 3,000 a day.
-Smoking causes 30% of all cancer deaths in the US, mostly lung cancer.
-It can cause birth defects, and stillborn births.
-It causes heart disease, which is the leading cause of death in the US.

And the list goes on and on…

There is no debate that it is bad for our health, but what about our spiritual lives? Is smoking tobacco sinful? The Catechism of the Catholic Church does not forbid smoking tobacco, but it does state that Christians should avoid using it to excess. Here is the direct quote from the Catechism.

“The virtue of temperance disposes us to avoid every kind of excess: the abuse of food, alcohol, tobacco, or medicine. Those incur grave guilt who, by drunkenness or a love of speed, endanger their own and others’ safety on the road, at sea, or in the air”.
(CCC 2290; emphasis in original).

Then there is this wonderful quote from the YOUCat, question 389:

“Every form of a person’s dependence on legal substances (alcohol, medication, tobacco) and even more so on illegal drugs is an exchange of freedom for slavery; it damages the health and life of the person concerned and does great harm to the people around him. Every time a person loses or forgets himself by becoming intoxicated, which can also include excessive eating and drinking, indulgence in sexual activity, or speeding with an automobile, he loses some of his human dignity and freedom and therefore sins against God. This should be distinguished from the reasonable, conscious, and moderate use of enjoyable things.”

My final thought on the matter is the view Mother Elvira (The founder of Comunita Cenacolo, a rehab place for young people) takes. She teaches the young people under her care that smoking is simply a sign that you are stepping in the wrong direction. It is an exchange of freedom for slavery.

So what are your thoughts? I would love to know what the young adults of the world are thinking on this matter. Post away in the comment box!

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Category: Health & Fitness, Life

About the Author ()

Rachel Zamarron works for EWTN in Customer Service and Admin. Support for the National Catholic Register. Rachel grew up in a large Catholic family that made her who she is today. She is passionate about her Catholic Faith, working with youth, and cowgirl boots. Recently married to her sweetheart Sam, the two of them are enjoying the adventures of life hand-in-hand.
  • Marquis

    In this day and age, we know a lot of the damage smoking causes. Smoking is taking in a little poison, with a small high afterwards. The poison accumulates in your system. Best not to take any poison of any kind at all.

  • http://catholicnewlywed.blogspot.com Mandi @ Catholic Newlywed

    While it certainly isn’t healthy for you, it isn’t a moral issue either (unless you are talking about trying to get other people to smoke – that’s morally questionable). If we turn it into a moral issue, then we would have to turn all health issues into moral issues – not exercising (or not exercising enough), eating junk food, etc. would be morally wrong as well. Is it important to teach young people about the dangers of smoking? Absolutely. But is smoking damaging to our souls? Smoking in itself isn’t, although many young people turn to smoking to fill some other void in their life – focus on that, not on the bad habit!

  • http://lasteuropeans.blogspot.com Titus

    The Catechism is correct: succumbing to addictions of any sort is improper. But just as it is certainly not wrong to consume alcohol, although it is wrong to be a drunk, it is certainly not wrong to smoke tobacco, even if it is wrong to develop a three-pack-a-day habit. It certainly will not do to dismiss all smoking as immoral on the grounds that it constitutes “taking a little poison”: walking around outside, taking aspirin, and undergoing chemotherapy all involve subjecting ourselves to some amount or another of something that will kill us in larger quantities.

    Smoking is a culturally valuable and actually quite enjoyable past time. Of course, when we say “smoking,” we most often refer to cigarette smoking, which does not really fit this definition and is largely a crass and unrefined habit devoid of redeeming cultural, historical, social, or artisinal virtues. But cigars and pipes, which are generally not smoked with the same frequency as cigarettes, do. Pipes and cigars are often produced by craftsmen, and well-made cigars and pipe tobacco can display as much subtlety and flavor as a fine wine. The temperate taking of such things is a fine and commendable element of the masculine side of Western culture (despite the one-time popularity of snuff, I will submit that all taking of tobacco is decidedly un-feminine). We could amass a fine list of authorities behind the proposition that such Traditional Things are the appropriate accoutrements of a Catholic layman.

  • anders

    All the happiest people I know smoke. So does the Pope, as did Chesterton. I think it shows a happy indifference to this mortal coil. And if you smoke a lot, studies suggest that it inhibits the development of dementia and Parkinson’s (search Google Scholar).

    Quick death from cancer or slow, confusing death from dementia? It’s a tough call.

  • http://thepulp.it/ Tito Edwards

    Cute pic of the baby. :~D

  • deltaflute

    I don’t think the act of smoking is itself immoral. As Madi said, unless your trying to get other people to smoke. This of course has it’s own moral dilemma since part of smoking is whose exposed to it. Smoking as cool on the tv screen is like an ad for cigarettes. And even smoking in front of children or those cigarette candies seem morally questionable.

    The big difference between smoking and drinking is that the vast majority of people only drink for special occasions. I know of very few people who smoke on special occasions (like birth of a child or something). Most people pick up smoking and then continue to worsen in the habit. That isn’t to say that those who drink don’t as well or over indulge on New Years. It’s just not something that can easily cross the line of morals.

    I’ve never smoked. And it’s gotten me into trouble when talking about those who do setting a bad example for children. I don’t understand how a person can say to a child “Don’t smoke” and then have a pack a day habit. That’s what I mean when I say morally questionable.

  • http://lasteuropeans.blogspot.com Titus

    I know of very few people who smoke on special occasions

    Au contraire: smoking on special occasions is a common and ancient practice. Be it celebratory cigars or a pipe in the study, the use of tobacco in celebration or noteworthy relaxation has a storied history. Besides, vast number of people today, and almost everyone not a Protestant or Muhammadan in the past, drink temperately on a regular basis, not only on special occasions.

    I don’t understand how a person can say to a child “Don’t smoke” and then have a pack a day habit.

    A person would say this the same way he would say to a child “do not drink” while decanting a bottle of wine at the dinner table, or “do not cross the street without holding my hand” despite regularly crossing by oneself. Parents and those in authority promulgate rules that children are obliged to follow. Those rules necessarily reflect the fact that children are not simply tiny adults: recognition of the asymmetry between things appropriate for adults and appropriate for children is by no means hypocrisy.

  • richard

    If it becomes an all-consuming obsession.

  • Woody

    What is the purpose of tobacco? Was it first used for anything else other than using it to smoke?

  • Alyssa

    Many members of my family smoke so I’ve grown up around cigarette smoke. They do role down the window in the car and go outside to light up. I often join them outside because I discovered that they’re calmer and are more likely to listen to me or my request for money or whatever when smoking. You have a point that the guardians of morals loudly proclaim the evils of smoking but are mute on Abortion, Human Trafficking and a host of other issues. I know first hand the dangers of smoking; a member of my family, a life time smoker, is now dying of a lung condition. Most of my friend find smoking socially unacceptable and exile smokers out of their company to the back porch. However, despite all this, if I picked up a cigarette to chill out, I would not berate myself. Smoking is not that bad compared to other things and I’m going to die anyways. What really stuck me about the article is how you described cigarettes as bad for the soul, that by relying on a substance, you lose a part of your human dignity.
    Thank you for sharing.

  • Alyssa

    *struck

  • Carly

    My concern with smoking is a personal one – I have asthma, and smoke is a huge trigger. It is physically painful to walk behind someone who is smoking, or enter a building doorway surrounded by smokers. Further, the terrible effects from second-hand smoke, which can be more harmful due to the lack of a filter, make me question the morality of smoking around others, particularly children. Drinking small amounts of alcohol do not affect others, except perhaps they might smell a whiff of liquor (which I doubt can do much harm). So, I think smoking is a different beast than drinking – not to mention it is far more addictive, espeically in cigarette form.

  • enness

    Here we have an interesting comparison of smoking and drinking (instead of contrast, as we usually get):
    http://alcoholism.about.com/od/nicotine/Nicotine_and_Alcohol.htm

    I think we need to remember that our bodies are not actually our own property; we are tenants of a heavenly Landlord, if you will. He might not mind if we put up a picture or two, but He may if we repaint everything or fill his beautiful walls full of holes!

  • http://lasteuropeans.blogspot.com Titus

    Those who point out the ill effects that smoking have on children and those with respiratory conditions are, of course, correct. One’s surroundings and one’s responsibilities alter the calculus in a situation such as this. Obviously charity demands that we not torment or endanger others in the pursuit of a recreational past-time.

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