Somehow (gee I don't know how) the conversation turned to confession and Sin. That's Capital S Sin. I asked what exactly defined sin (other than the obvious, of course). For example, I wondered aloud, though quietly, I thought -- would I have to confess that I read pornography? My friend Gregers, an accepting and non-judgmental man, turned a shade of red I'd not seen before. It most closely resembled burgundy.

“Well,” he stuttered, “you don't do THAT, do you?” Freely and candidly, I said “Well. Yeah. Is that a sin? And if I confess it, do I have to stop doing it?”

It was at that point, when Gregers had reacted himself into a stupor of wordlessness (a state of being he never enters), that I noticed this table of holy men had suddenly gone very quiet.

I guess it's good that I didn't wait to ask this question at the Bishop's reception that night.