Post by kjvsteve on Dec 31, 2009 8:30:27 GMT -5
An Anglican Priest, Tim Jones, who last week told his congregation that stealing food from national stores is ok, has had a bucket of spaghetti and ravioli poured over him by an angry parishioner.
The man, Martin Stot, 48, says he carried out the protest because he was annoyed by the vicar advocating shoplifting.
It emerged that his had been a very hard life indeed, but has never seen the need for crime - such as shoplifting.
The priest had told his congregation that stealing food did not break the eighth commandment, because it is permissible for those who are in desperate situations to take food that they might not starve'.
"My advice, as a Christian priest, is to shoplift" he told his stunned congregation at St Lawrence and St Hilda in York, England.
'The life of the poor in modern Britain is a constant struggle, a minefield of competing opportunities, competing responsibilities, obligations and requirements, a constant effort to achieve the impossible.
'For many at the bottom of our social ladder, lawful, honest life can sometimes seem to be an apparent impossibility.'
My first thoughts were that there are people in places like Africa who really are starving, and have no clean water - so how can he justify telling people of his congregation, who live in clean houses, filled with modern day luxuries, that it is ok to steal?
I'm sorry, but the word 'starvation' is being banded around far too easily.
I don't think he knows the meaning of the word, because it certainly doesn't apply to him or his congregation; and here's why: social security benefits.
I cringe when I hear people telling me they can't afford to live off social security benefits.
I've yet to hear of anybody die from starvation, whilst sitting in a comfortable arm chair, in a heated room, with 3 lights burning, wearing the latest designer clothes, watching a television set, and talking on a cell phone - probably complaining that they have to walk all the way to the post office to collect this weeks $110.
The man, Martin Stot, 48, says he carried out the protest because he was annoyed by the vicar advocating shoplifting.
It emerged that his had been a very hard life indeed, but has never seen the need for crime - such as shoplifting.
The priest had told his congregation that stealing food did not break the eighth commandment, because it is permissible for those who are in desperate situations to take food that they might not starve'.
"My advice, as a Christian priest, is to shoplift" he told his stunned congregation at St Lawrence and St Hilda in York, England.
'The life of the poor in modern Britain is a constant struggle, a minefield of competing opportunities, competing responsibilities, obligations and requirements, a constant effort to achieve the impossible.
'For many at the bottom of our social ladder, lawful, honest life can sometimes seem to be an apparent impossibility.'
My first thoughts were that there are people in places like Africa who really are starving, and have no clean water - so how can he justify telling people of his congregation, who live in clean houses, filled with modern day luxuries, that it is ok to steal?
I'm sorry, but the word 'starvation' is being banded around far too easily.
I don't think he knows the meaning of the word, because it certainly doesn't apply to him or his congregation; and here's why: social security benefits.
I cringe when I hear people telling me they can't afford to live off social security benefits.
I've yet to hear of anybody die from starvation, whilst sitting in a comfortable arm chair, in a heated room, with 3 lights burning, wearing the latest designer clothes, watching a television set, and talking on a cell phone - probably complaining that they have to walk all the way to the post office to collect this weeks $110.
