Alternative Views on The Original Sin

Alternative Views on Original Sin

(short summary)
Alternative views reject the inheritance of guilt from Adam, focusing instead on personal responsibility and different sources of human moral imperfection. Eastern Orthodoxy teaches Ancestral Sin, where humanity inherits mortality and a propensity to sin, not Adam's guilt, viewing sin as a disease to be healed through theosis. The condemned view of Pelagianism argues humans are born innocent and sin is merely a voluntary choice influenced by bad example. Unitarianism/Liberal Christianity often rejects inherited sin, seeing it as a metaphor for human imperfection. Judaism holds individuals accountable for their own sins, being born with both good (yetzer hatov) and evil (yetzer hara) inclinations. Islam explicitly teaches that humans are born in natural purity (fitrah) as Adam's sin was forgiven. Hinduism views the problem not as sin, but as ignorance (avidya) leading to suffering and karma. Finally, Secular/Scientific perspectives attribute human flaws to evolutionary factors or social conditioning, while the "Original Blessing" view emphasizes inherent goodness and divine image.