Most people, writes Rick Paulas, are familiar with the emotion of guilt, but certain religions—most notably Judaism and Catholicism—are associated in the popular imagination with specific kinds of guilt. After an informal survey, Paulas concludes that Jewish and Catholic guilt are fundamentally different:
The Catholic version of guilt comes from a more ethereal “on-high” place: a judgmental and all-seeing Higher Power. The penalty for not following the instructions of this being? Only eternal damnation. That’s high-pressure stuff, but [this] shouldn’t imply that Jewish guilt is somehow weaker. [The latter] comes from a more tangible place, from your friends and family, from your community. The penalty for not following those instructions? Being ostracized.
The weight of both are tremendous. The unanswerable question—unanswerable, seeing as Jews can’t pretend to be Catholics, and vice-versa—is which is more threatening: an all-powerful deity or your mom? How about if you happen to be one of those lucky few who get to experience . . . both?
“The Jewish side is, ‘You could do better,’ and the Catholic side is, ‘You’re a lost cause,’” says Katherine Spiers, who is ethnically Jewish but was raised Catholic. “I just always feel like I’m [messing] up absolutely everything.”
Read more on Pacific Standard: http://www.psmag.com/books-and-culture/no-god-will-help-you