Yes it is indeed true that most Christian churches teach the original sin doctrine , while that is not specified in the Genesis Eden account itself ( to which it is usually attributed). Thus, those churches teach that man is born sinful and, further, is helpless to improve his behavior to reduce evil in the world. It is also correct that received Judaism does not teach the original sin doctrine ( preferring to account for evil as a consequence of bad decisions people make with their free will, decisions we can learn to improve, free will means we can “choose life” - we can do good — this avoiding or at least reducing evil in fhe world). So, there is a major difference - indeed I trace all the doctrinal differences to this one difference of opinion in the nature of man. —- ( a longer essay, smile smile). We should, for completeness, note that the original sin doctrine was not invented by Augustine as is oft claimed. It traces back at least to 4 Ezra, a first century Jewish book, and Paul can also be read to contain at least seeds of the o s view. ————————— Most Jews probably wouldn’t want to take credit or rather blame for the o sin doctrine, at least in how it has come to be developed in Christian theology (!) as a condemnation of man ( including babies said to be born condemned to “Hell,” another Christian doctrine not generally found in received Judaism). and how the o s doctrine appears to relieve man from any responsibility for his behavior since he supposedly can’t improve it anyway ———effective neutering of all human moral responsibility —————but the original seeds of the received Christian original sin doctrine, like almost everything in Christianity, derived from Jewish sources. (( thus, there was logic for the church to keep such writings as 4 Ezra while Judaism discarded them as theologically erroneous or misleading).
That’s interesting. The original sin doctrine does seem to create more problems than it attempts to resolve — e.g., children in hell (who I guess are in the least offensive part of Hell). It also gives rise to the Palegian controversy that Augustine vehemently fought against. We have to act in a Pelegian manner with our law courts — that we are responsible creatures, responsible for our actions due to free will — but with God, the issue of our responsibility, our free will seems less in effect, less prominent or important... we are all sinners who are forgiven. Secular laws courts cannot forgive everyone all the time the ways God forgives — society would be in shambles. I think the notion of original sin contributes to this dilemma. The Eastern Orthodox are less caught up with the idea of original sin and there might be good reasons for it.
As well, original sin seems to have an unjust component to it (e.g., babies roasting in hell) that modern society balks at. Through no fault of your own you are burdened by your forefather for some unjust act he had committed — seems like a primitive way of justice. It’s something that you wouldn’t see in modern courts of law. We would see it as inherently unjust in our modern society, a society that puts emphasis on the actions of the individual rather than on some family member somewhere in the dim mists of the past. Inheriting the sins of the father is just too primitive and unjust of a concept for our times...