The declaration that evil is banal is one of the most senseless things a person could say about immorality. Often used as an excuse to treat evil as having a sort of metaphysical triviality, this idea has been echoed by Christian figures throughout the centuries in an attempt to redirect focus to what is good. Ironically, trivializing sin only detracts from a sound understanding of ethics!
Sin cannot be recognized as the thoroughly destructive thing that it is whenever it is dismissed as a banality. Moreover, the claim that evil is simply a dull distraction from righteousness fails on an epistemological level because of the inherent subjectivity of excitement and pleasure. Does boredom signify metaphysical or moral unimportance? Of course not! It only means that a given person is bored.
Sin is neither banal nor enticing by nature--it might seem banal or enticing to a specific person, but this perception is just a subjective mental state. Reactions to any concept or truth vary from individual to individual, and yet the truth is unaffected by the diversity and subjectivity of those reactions. This is precisely why declaring that evil has a certain nature because of purely subjective perceptions is so destructive.
Dismissing evil as banal is to dismiss the fact that neither good nor evil has an inherent appeal to a given person. Of course, whether something is objectively good or evil does not depend on any person's attitude towards it. Conscience is subjective, but any existing moral obligations are objective, having nothing to do with what any number of people find interesting or dull. It is thus ignorant and asinine to declare that evil itself is banal, no matter what respected theologians might assert.
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