cyu
21st December 2009, 18:30
Excerpts from http://www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/4813836._It___s_okay_to_shoplift__says_York_priest/
WORSHIPPERS at one York church got a shock when their parish priest used the last Sunday before Christmas to advocate shoplifting.
My advice, as a Christian priest, is to shoplift. 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. I would ask them not to take any more than they need, for any longer than they need.
He said he offered the advice with a heavy heart, and wished society would recognise that bureaucratic ineptitude and systemic delay had created an invitation and incentive to crime for people struggling to cope.
Father Jones said society had failed many needy people, and said it was far better that they shoplift than turn to more degrading or violent options such as prostitution, mugging or burglary.
He said his advice did not contradict the Bibles eighth commandment, not to steal, saying Gods love for the poor and despised outweighed the property rights of the rich.
The observation that shoplifting is the best option that some people are left with is a grim indictment of who we are. Rather, this is a call for our society no longer to treat its most vulnerable people with indifference and contempt.
WORSHIPPERS at one York church got a shock when their parish priest used the last Sunday before Christmas to advocate shoplifting.
My advice, as a Christian priest, is to shoplift. 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. I would ask them not to take any more than they need, for any longer than they need.
He said he offered the advice with a heavy heart, and wished society would recognise that bureaucratic ineptitude and systemic delay had created an invitation and incentive to crime for people struggling to cope.
Father Jones said society had failed many needy people, and said it was far better that they shoplift than turn to more degrading or violent options such as prostitution, mugging or burglary.
He said his advice did not contradict the Bibles eighth commandment, not to steal, saying Gods love for the poor and despised outweighed the property rights of the rich.
The observation that shoplifting is the best option that some people are left with is a grim indictment of who we are. Rather, this is a call for our society no longer to treat its most vulnerable people with indifference and contempt.