Dear Class Member,
An Anglican priest recently caught the attention of world news sources when he advocated in a sermon that people in serious need who have tried every legal means to obtain the necessities to survive should resort to shoplifting rather than other illegal activities. He indicated that under those circumstances, shoplifting was the right thing to do.
While he did not say so in so many words, the priest was implying that under certain conditions, the commandment to not steal could be suspended. And that leads us to our topics for our next class. We will discuss how the timeless commandments from Scripture function to guide us under unusual, emergency or desperate circumstances. And we will also consider how well those who are not poor understand the plight of those who are.
If you wish to start thinking about our topic in advance, below is some introductory material.
Priest OKs Shoplifting When in Dire Straits
The Wired Word for January 3, 2010
In the News
In his sermon for the Sunday before Christmas, Father Tim Jones, parish priest of the Anglican churches of St. Lawrence and St. Hilda in York, England, told his congregation that shoplifting is acceptable under certain circumstances. When a person is in desperate need and has exhausted all other legal avenues of help to survive, then, said Jones, "My advice, as a Christian priest, is to shoplift."
The priest went on to say, "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. And I would offer this advice with a heavy heart, wishing that our society recognized that bureaucratic ineptitude and systemic delay constitutes a dreadful invitation and incentive to crime for people struggling to cope at the very bottom of our social order."
Jones gave his okay to shoplifting after describing the plight of persons who have tried every legal means to receive enough to get by, but who have either been given insufficient help or been put onto a waiting list to receive it. In those circumstances, said the priest, shoplifting is a better alternative than prostitution, burglary or other criminal acts to obtain money.
In the sermon, Jones said he did not give the advice lightly. He explained, "Let my words not be misrepresented as a simplistic call for people to shoplift. 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. When people are released from prison, or find themselves suddenly without work or family support, then to leave them for weeks and weeks with inadequate or clumsy social support is monumental, catastrophic folly. We create a situation which leaves some people little option but crime."
The leadership of the Diocese of York, of which Jones' churches are a part, has not supported his advice. In a statement on the diocesan Web site, Archdeacon of York Richard Seed said, "The Church of England does not advise anyone to shoplift, or break the law in any way. Fr Tim Jones is raising important issues about the difficulties people face when benefits are not forthcoming, but shoplifting is not the way to overcome these difficulties." Seed went on to refer to organizations and charities that work with people in need.
Former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey also did not support Jones, calling the priest's advice "misguided and foolish" while allowing that Jones' concern for the poor was "admirable." Carey added that "We aren't in a Dickensian era when people are driven to picking a pocket or two in order to survive." He pointed out that today the state provides a "safety net" and many charities offer advice, food and shelter. He further said that "nobody is dying of hunger even though the inequalities of our society are still greater than they should be."
Members of the British Retail Consortium, a trade organization, also criticized Jones' advice. A spokesperson for the group said that helping vulnerable people is "the job of our welfare system, which retailers support with the billions they pay each year in tax."
The North Yorkshire police said that encouraging people to shoplift was "highly irresponsible."
This news reminded one member of The Wired Word editorial team of a scene in the play Les Miserables where the ex-convict Jean Valjean absconds with the silver candlesticks and other valuables from a church. When the police bring him back, the priest, merciful and thinking on his feet, hands Valjean two more candlesticks and says, "Oh -- you forgot these other things that I gave you as well," and thereby keeps Valjean from being sent back to prison. In the musical version, the priest sings: "I have bought your soul for God." He also tells Valjean that he should see a higher plan in what had happened, and use the silver "to become an honest man."
Our team member says, "All of this makes me think: It would be a very different thing for this priest to have advocated that shopkeepers should be merciful in the event of people stealing. What if he had encouraged people to have mercy and perhaps 'buy [others'] souls for God,' as happened in Les Miserables? But the beauty of that option, and the life change that is possible in someone like Jean Valjean when they are shown mercy, falls apart when people begin to feel that they're entitled to do the stealing in the first place."
More on this story may be found at these links:
The Big Questions
Here are some of the questions we will discuss in class:
1. What do you think Jesus would say about Father Jones' shoplifting advice? What do you think Jesus would say about the intent behind Jones' advice?2. Are there ever any circumstances when one of the Ten Commandments should be suspended?3. If a person with no funds, resources, employment or relatives willing to help has applied for assistance and is on a waiting list to receive it, what should that person do in the meantime to obtain food and shelter?4. Can a Christian ever be content with the view that helping vulnerable people is the job only of the social welfare system? Why or why not?5. Is Jones right when he says that "bureaucratic ineptitude and systemic delay constitutes a dreadful invitation and incentive to crime for people struggling to cope at the very bottom of our social order"? Why or why not?
Confronting the News with Scripture
We will look at selected verses from these Scripture texts. You may wish to read these in advance for background:
Exodus 20:1-17Proverbs 10:15
Luke 1:39-56
Luke 3:1-14
Ephesians 4:25--5:2
In class, we will talk about these passages and look for some insight on the big questions, as well as talk about other questions you may have about this topic. Please join us.
No comments:
Post a Comment