Injustice in Words: Cursing

Cursing is either a wish or a command that another be afflicted with evil. As a command, cursing is sometimes lawful;thus, a judge imposing penalty, or the Church pronouncing anathema,involves no injustice or sin. But we usually understand cursing asthe wish, expressed in strong terms, that another may be afflicted with evil.

Cursing irrational things is, in itself, mere vain and futile speech; it is not really cursing at all. When such cursing of irrational things is actually cursing, it has reference to people. Thus when the Lord said (Gen. 3:17), “Cursed is the earth in thy work,” he meant that the barrenness of the earth is a penalty put upon sinful man. And when David cursed the mountains of Gelboe (II Kings 1:21), he did so because of thepeople who had been slaughtered there. Likewise, when Job cursed his day (Job 3:1) he was referring to the miseries that people must endure in this world.

Cursing as an evil wish against other persons is a sin.It is directly contrary to charity, and it strikes against justice. Therefore, in its genus or kind, it is a mortal sin. But,in its actual performing, cursing is frequently mere vain speech,even when it is directed against persons. It is seldom used with attention to its meaning, or with any thought of having an evil wish fulfilled. A man who “damns” another, or tells him to “go to hell,” has usually no wish at all to see theother suffer harm; he has no thought of wishing that the person addressed should undergo the punishment of hell. He is merely using a coarse, uncouth, and nearly meaningless expression that is readily learned andhabitually used to give vent to strong feeling in almost any trying situation.

Cursing, even when it is actually worthy of the name and is therefore sinful, is usually not so grave a sin as backbiting. Backbiting actually inflicts an injury; cursing only wishes injury to be inflicted.