Reverend Advises Congregation to Steal.
As an atheist I’m often asked, “If you don’t believe in God what keeps you from being a thief, a rapist, or even a serial killer?”. It’s presumed that all morality comes from God/the Bible, and that religious people are inherently more moral than non-religious people.
So what of Reverend Tim Jones, who directly told his congregation it was OK to violate the eighth commandment?
British police and retailers have criticized an Anglican priest who advised his congregation to weather
economic turmoil by shoplifting.The Rev. Tim Jones, 41, told his congregation at St. Lawrence Church in York, England, during a sermon Sunday it is better for the poor to turn to shoplifting than “prostitution, mugging or burglary,” the telegraph.co.uk reported Monday.
“My advice, as a Christian priest, is to shoplift. 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,” he said. “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.”
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I can only imagine the millions of religious folk who are working overtime to justify in their minds what Reverend Jones did. It never ceases to amaze me how anything and everything religious people do, no matter how severely it conflicts with their dogma, can be rationalized. And yet they can beat others–including those who aren’t believers and those who are of other faiths–over the head mercilessly because we don’t follow every jot and note of their precious holy book.
The hypocrisy is astounding, and it reeks.
2 Responses to “Reverend Advises Congregation to Steal.”
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December 22nd, 2009 at 10:50 pm
I’m exempt from the 8th Commandment anyway but I think I can justify what he said: Unlike mugging or burglary, shoplifting doesn’t directly harm someone (in principle, nor does prostitution but the reality is often very different).
Of course, since we’re not xian, we’re free to evaluate his advice on the basis of ethical conduct. I can’t imagine how xians, who don’t have that freedom, are going to justify it.
December 22nd, 2009 at 11:40 pm
It sort of blows their whole “objective morality” theory out of the water, eh?