Priest tells congregation shoplifting, it's better than robbery or prostitution

[The Helper]

Poor people who are desperate for cash have been advised to go forth and shoplift from major stores - by an Anglican priest.

The Rev Tim Jones said in his Sunday sermon that stealing from successful shops was preferable to burglary, robbery or prostitution.

He told parishioners it would not break the eighth commandment 'thou shalt not steal' because it 'is permissible for those who are in desperate situations to take food that they might not starve'.

But his advice was roundly condemned by police and the local Tory MP. Father Jones, 42, was discussing Mary and the birth of Jesus when he went on to the subject of how poor and vulnerable people cope in the run-up to Christmas

Read more here.

 

[ElderKingpin]

thou shalt not steal, its not thou shalt not steal if, or, but....

--
-.-

 

[LearningCode]

Lol, made my day

 

[Tru_Power22]

Awesome. Though, I actually kind of see his point.

 

[ReVolver]

Exodus 20

"Thou shalt not steal."

 

[AnthraxXx]

My opinion is he's right... corporations can afford to lose a small amount of business, but the fact is that if you have large amounts of people committing petty theft then that's when the problem begins, which is why the police condemn it and in the above posts, "Thou shalt not steal" means exactly that, regardless of the circumstances. But I'm not religious, so I really don't care.

But it truly IS better than burglary, robbery and prostitution - you can't disagree on that.

 

[ReVolver]

My opinion is he's right... corporations can afford to lose a small amount of business, but the fact is that if you have large amounts of people committing petty theft then that's when the problem begins, which is why the police condemn it.

But it truly IS better than burglary, robbery and prostitution - you can't disagree on that.

Stealing is stealing, clean or dirty...

Instead of stealing, go to a soup kitchen, ask the church to help, chances are they have a charity... if not go seek one.

 

[Ninva]

Thou shalt not steal.

 

[Oninuva]

Stop taking everything so literally.

 

[Rapmaster]

I think we need more people to quote the commandment passage, as if that idea wasn't already covered in the article.

Anyway it's not like society - even the most devout Christians - literally follows everything in the Bible.

Putting religion aside and going all the way back to my education in law (at the high school level, of course) there is something called a Defense of Necessity It's the same thing that covers self-defense and so on. But with all the shelter and welfare services available it generally won't work in a case like this. If somehow there were no social services available, maybe it would be a valid defense in court because people aren't expected to starve to death. And of course I'm sure judges would show some leniency in sentencing even if they techically had to convict you.

 

[CysticCraze]

Stop taking everything so literally.

Rofl, I read this and my first reaction was "What the frick!?"

How can you not take it literally, it says "Though shall not steal." How can that be interpreted differently!?

 

[Karawasa]

The guy is a freaking genius. My bet is that he intentionally played, and won, the media.

 

[Jindo]

How can you not take it literally, it says "Though shall not steal." How can that be interpreted differently!?

The media has completely twisted this guy's words.

He didn't say that it was right for the homeless to shoplift, he described it as 'the lesser of two evils', and then the media jumped on that and accused him of telling people that stealing is okay...