Comments on: Priest to Congregation: Steal!

By: hoverfrog

hoverfrog — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 11:49:00 +0000

Chris, here is the full transcript. Father Jones does say

Instead, I would rather that they shoplift. My advice, as a Christian priest, is to shoplift.

and it is well in context to the general message of the sermon. Essentially I read this as society doesn't care for the poor so it is excusable for them to steal. Shoplifting is the least harmful form of theft so the poor should steal from supermarkets rather than from individuals. Sure we could defend the actions of someone desperate who resorts to theft but should we?

By: Chris

Chris — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 14:18:10 +0000

Look – i’m not saying the priest is 100% right and is making a positive difference in society. I AM saying that what he’s doing can be legitimately defended. We’d need more information to really figure out if what he’s doing is making a positive impact. We have no way of knowing if 99% of his sermon was pleas to the community to help those in need and for those in need to seek social services before committing a crime.

If this was the only content of his speech, then I’d agree that it’s probably not doing much good. But we don’t have the full picture.

By: Pseudonym

Pseudonym — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 03:12:25 +0000

I would really, REALLY have liked to hear the sermon in its entirety. While not condoning shoplifting, I have a feeling that we might all be missing some context here.

By: muggle

muggle — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 01:04:20 +0000

What a freaking total jerk asshole!

I can’t believe any of you are defending this gigantic hypocrite who should be preaching to his congregation to help these people out instead of telling people to “sin” if they’re down on their luck. He’s basically saying fuck you to them. Don’t even think about asking us good Christians for aid. Go to hell!

What you really think he’s gonna say anything other than that if they get arrested while shoplifting and beg for bail money? I don’t. I don’t think he has altruistic motives at all. Quite the opposite.

You say he’s just being realistic? Fuck no. He’s just letting his parishioners off the hook, most likely so they can give their money to the church instead of the poor.

What a freaking jerk asshole!

By: No one of consequence

No one of consequence — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 00:59:25 +0000

Shoplifting seems biblically encouraged.

Fill up on grapes and grab some grain!

Deuteronomy 23
24 If you enter your neighbor’s vineyard, you may eat all the grapes you want, but do not put any in your basket.
25 If you enter your neighbor’s grainfield, you may pick kernels with your hands, but you must not put a sickle to his standing grain.

Security should turn a blind eye… or at least leave stuff where it is easy to grab…

Deuteronomy 24
19 When you are harvesting in your field and you overlook a sheaf, do not go back to get it. Leave it for the alien, the fatherless and the widow, so that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. 20 When you beat the olives from your trees, do not go over the branches a second time. Leave what remains for the alien, the fatherless and the widow. 21 When you harvest the grapes in your vineyard, do not go over the vines again. Leave what remains for the alien, the fatherless and the widow. 22 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt. That is why I command you to do this.

By: Laura

Laura — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 23:32:47 +0000

wow. Just wow. No further comment needed.

By: Judith Bandsma

Judith Bandsma — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 22:32:07 +0000

With the security in most big stores, the option of shoplifting will definitely give you the food and shelter you need…in jail.

By: Tony

Tony — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 21:32:57 +0000

I keeping picturing Jesus trying to sneak a 40″ plasma out of Walmart in his robe.

By: Stump Lane — Taking What You Need May Be a Listed Crime, but That Doesn’t Mean You Shouldn’t Do It!

Tue, 22 Dec 2009 21:25:03 +0000

[...] Concerned, friendly atheist, Hemant Mehta, zooms past the myriad moral issues that result in modern-day people finding themselves poor, vulnerable, struggling to make ends meet and running out of options. He zeroes in instead on the hairsplitting he groks the priest is engaging in: Because burglary is very different from shoplifting? [Mehta] [...]

By: Jen

Jen — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 20:13:41 +0000

Here’s the problem I see that isn’t being addressed:
What about the workers at the retail store you are stealing from? If you steal from a Wal-mart, Sam Walton’s family will still continue to have mansions, and the cost of all that shoplifting is going right off of the backs of the minimum wage slaves who work there, in the form of cut hours and fewer benefits. Before most retail locations pass on the cost to the customers, they first usually pass it on to their employees. Those employees, presumably, will have to turn to shop lifting until only the Walton kids will be actually paying for anything.

For the record, having read the transcript, he is specifically talking about recently jailed people, which, admittedly, is a terrible position to be in. Last week on NPR I heard that former prisoners have an unemployment rate twice that of the rest of us. However, shoplifting while on parole is a terrible, terrible idea. And in the entire sermon, he suggests visiting the vicar as a temporary means but does not mention the church funding going to help these people.

All in all, I still don’t like it, but it’s not quite as bad as Fox News said.