Wales News, Dec 23, 2009 : Is it ever OK to steal? After parish priest Tim Jones said the poor should steal from major stores we asked clergymen, academics and politicians whether extreme poverty can ever justify theft.

Darren Devine reports THOU shalt not steal – unless it’s from a really big shop and you’re very poor. This is the new spin placed on the eighth commandment by Father Tim Jones that has caused a storm of protest from the police, retailers and fellow clergymen.

The parish priest of St Lawrence and St Hilda’s in York said in a weekend sermon stealing was sometimes the best option many vulnerable people had. He even went as far as to instruct his parishioners on where to steal, telling them to avoid small businesses and target only national chains.

Talking about the situations of certain vulnerable people Father Jones told his congregation on Sunday: “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. “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.” The priest argued it was a savage indictment of society that for the most deprived groups shoplifting was the best option.

He told BBC Breakfast that many of us would spend a small fortune on Christmas presents we neither use nor want while giving very little to charities devoted to society’s neediest groups. He added: “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 Archdeacon of Cardigan, Dr William Strange, said while he understood his fellow cleric’s concerns about Christian values like charity and generosity being lost amid the rampant materialism of Christmas, theft could not be condoned. Dr Strange, a member of the conservative Christian group Anglican Mainstream, said: “The weakness in what he says is in trying to draw a line between shoplifting from a big shop and shoplifting from a little shop. “You might then go on and say burglary from a big house is OK, but burglary from a small house isn’t. “It doesn’t seem a very consistent line to draw.”

Dr Strange called Father Jones well-meaning but misguided. “This is why we have to come back to the basic commandment, ‘Thou shalt not steal’,” he said, “because once you start saying you can steal in some circumstances, where do you draw the line?” Cardiff University criminologist Dr Trevor Jones said the Marxist idea that shoplifting was not just criminality, but an expression of political discontent with a system stacked against the poor, was wide of the mark. Father Jones’ advice was ill-considered because however impoverished one’s circumstances they were only likely to be made worse by shoplifting, he said. “There’s a benefits system in place and people should not be experiencing a level of poverty where they are actually starving,” he said. “It’s a classic Marxist argument about crime to say it’s the response of the poor because the system is weighted against them, but it’s more complex than that.” But the cleric’s comment did not draw condemnation from all quarters, with some believing he was right to draw attention to the plight of the most disadvantaged and the extremes they are driven to by poverty.

Plaid Cymru AM for South Wales Central Leanne Wood said: “When I was a probation officer I came across many cases where people broke the law out of desperation and Christmas is a more difficult time of year than any other. “I challenge those who criticise people in this situation to try living on the streets for a week. “Of course we must also recognise that theft can have a devastating impact on our local small businesses, particularly at a time of recession when many are struggling to get by. “There are only 12 beds for homeless people in the whole of Rhondda Cynon Taf. Provision needs expanding to ensure that all those in need are catered for so that they are not forced into a situation where they feel their only option is to break the law.”