What the priest really meant about five-finger discounts

If you’re eager to buy more and bigger presents than you can afford this holiday season, here’s a way [that we do NOT recommend], complete with excuse.

According to a story by Gregory Katz of the Associated Press:

“For a priest in northern England, the commandment that dictates ‘thou shalt not steal’ isn’t exactly written in stone.

The Rev. Tim Jones caused an uproar by telling his congregation that it is sometimes acceptable for desperate people to shoplift — as long as they do it at large national chain stores, rather than small, family businesses.

Jones’ Robin Hood-like sermon drew rebukes Tuesday from fellow clergy, shop owners and police.

From his pulpit at the Church of St. Lawrence in York, about 220 miles north of London, Jones said in his sermon Sunday that shoplifting can be justified if a person in real need, is not greedy and does not take more than he or she really needs to get by.

The remarks drew a summons from Archdeacon Richard Seed, who said on his Web site that the church rejects the view that shoplifting can be acceptable.”

[In other words, don’t try to tell the police, an angry security guard or God that your family really, really needed a big-screen TV and Xbox so you yanked them off a shelf and made a run for it.]

Jones told The Associated Press that he stands by his comments. He said he regretted only that the media is focusing on his view on shoplifting rather than the underlying problem he wanted to address

“The point I’m making is that when we shut down every socially acceptable avenue for people in need, then the only avenue left is the socially unacceptable one,” he said, adding that people are often released from prison without any means of support, leading them back into crime. “What I’m against is the way society has become ever more comfortable with the people at the very bottom, and blinded to their needs,” he said.

Advocating shoplifting is one way to try to get that message noticed. But prepare to be judged.