The Reverend Tim Jones is an Anglican priest in a small village in York. In the weeks leading up to Christmas he explained to his parishioners that shoplifting was permissible in the eyes of God, and received much (mostly negative) press attention for his somewhat unorthodox views. His comments were largely misinterpreted by the national press and portrayed as a lowering of standards in the church and in contradiction of the commandment 'Thou shalt not steal'.
Personally, i thought it was refreshing to hear the voice of compassion in the festive period. You see, what Rev Jones was advocating was not the mass pilfering of DVDs by kleptomaniac middle-class housewives but the redistribution of wealth from those that can afford it to those who can't. He argues that for people who cannot afford to eat, shoplifting from a supermarket is the least morally reprehensible way to obtain food, and I wholeheartedly agree with him. Instead of the crime being perpetrated against an individual, the cost of the stolen goods is passed on directly to the shop's legitimate customers, thus creating a kind of charitable donation to the poor from us all. From a Christian perspective; apparently, it's not even against the word of the 'good book' as the 8th commandment doesn't apply to those who don't have money to buy food. Everybody's happy!
It's estimated that the average consumer pays an additional £150 per annum for shopping as a direct result of shoplifting. I, like you, have no objection to this given that it works out at less than £3/week (or in smoking terms, a pack of 10). I find this far more palatable, for instance, than tipping waitresses who are already being paid a wage, or, being harrangued into paying a service charge in some swanky London bistro because the waiter has made the long walk from the kitchen to my table to serve my meal, erm 'waiter' surely 'waiting' is in the job description...no?!
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