The Glade 4.0

A priest in Britain is under fire Monday for advising his congregation to shoplift in tough economic times, the Daily Mail reports.

Father Tim Jones, a 41-year-old clergyman at St. Lawrence Church in York, England, said that shoplifting — rather than prostitution or burglary — is sometimes the best option for poor people struggling to make ends meet, according to the Web site.

"My advice as a Christian priest is to shoplift," Jones reportedly told churchgoers during his Sunday sermon. "I do not offer such advice because I think that stealing is a good thing, or because I think it is harmless, for it is neither."

"I would ask that they do not steal from small family businesses, but from large national businesses — knowing that the costs are ultimately passed on to the rest of us in the form of higher prices," he continued.

"I would ask them not to take any more than they need, for any longer than they need ... My advice does not contradict the Bible's eighth commandment because God's love for the poor and despised outweighs the property rights of the rich."

Jones' sermon, meanwhile, has been blasted by police, the British Retail Consortium and a local MP who all say that shoplifting is a crime regardless of circumstances.

Click here to read more from the Daily Mail.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,580807,00.html?test=latestnews



I admit I am no biblical scholar but I must have missed Gods hatred for Walmart and Target somewhere.

Proverbs 3:5-6 "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths."

Facism is not a school of thought, it is a racial slur.

Oh the irony ...

About cultural hegemony within the "Christian Community" (quotes because hegemony is a myth)?

Also, that's a stupid idea. Wal-Mart is indeed going to pass the costs onto the consumers who shop their in the forms of higher costs. Guess who can least afford those cost increases?

In comic strips the person on the left always speaks first. - George Carlin

"I would ask them not to take any more than they need, for any longer than they need ... My advice does not contradict the Bible's eighth commandment because God's love for the poor and despised outweighs the property rights of the rich."

Your mom?

Nah, he said that while stealing from (Inter)national chains will cause the prices to rise, it's ok, because we'll all pay for the stolen merchandise via those higher prices.

It stuns me, I can understand talking about taking food if you're starving, but this crosses the line.

Isn't that kind of like communism, from an economical standpoint, with the way the money is redistributed?


Is Robin Hood a communist? That new one with Russell Crowe looks freakin' awesome. (even if it does look a bit like Gladiator part 2)

Isn't that kind of like communism, from an economical standpoint, with the way the money is redistributed?

And if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a large millstone tied around his neck."

It's really not like communism or socialism because he's not making any arguement that property is held in common or for the common good, or even that people have a right to the wealth of others.

"I would ask that they do not steal from small family businesses, but from large national businesses — knowing that the costs are ultimately passed on to the rest of us in the form of higher prices," he continued.

He is saying because costs are distributed it is less wrong, the only difference is amount of wrong - communism sees it as not at all wrong, socialism sees it as the tiniest bit wrong.

{snip}

It stuns me, I can understand talking about taking food if you're starving, but this crosses the line.

Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool.