Which is the bigger crime?

You may remember hearing this story just before Christmas- the vicar who advised people to shoplift if they didn't have any money.  It was a story that caught my attention, and indeed that of both local and national media.  But the controversial advice to people in dire need to shoplift was not the only thing that caught my eye.

I don't like it when a statement such as "My advice is to shoplift" is taken out of context.  So often it's done to make a small point seem like a big one.  So I was glad when someone later pointed me in the direction of the text of his sermon.  And sure enough, the advice to shoplift isn't the main point he was trying to make.  Most shoplifters probably don't fall into the category of the very poorest, but are real criminals who wouldn't pay even if they could.  That's not what the vicar is talking about here.

This is the words of a vicar who knows what life is actually like for people on the edge.  The various agencies he quotes as being involved in people getting to the stage of having nothing (probation, social services, benefit handlers) have all denied that there is a problem, but anyone who's had to deal with them knows there is.  A friend of mine has had her benefits cut by the job centre because of a small mistake, other people I know have been threatened that they have to pay back money they've never received.  And delays in processing claims are not unusual- another friend had big problems with their landlord because of a delay and complications in processing a claim.  Life is just not as well ordered or predictable as the people who designed the benefit system seem to think.  Like most systems, I imagine it was designed by people who never had to use it.

So I think it's good that this vicar is being realistic, and that he understands the problems people face, and is trying to get his congregation to understand and to do something about them too.  I think what he's doing in saying people should shoplift from supermarkets is using controversy and extremes to shock people into paying attention.  And it's worked- probably more than he intended.  Sadly I think the controversy has taken away from what he is trying to say- that there are people whom our society has failed, and that we should be doing something about- that it is our duty, as Christians, to carry on the work of the God who came to Earth to live and work among the poor and sick, to promise them healing and life.

Of course I don't think shoplifting is right.  Neither, I'm sure, does he.  But when you consider how much supermarkets and such places throw away, isn't that as bit a crime?  And isn't our- and I do mean our, I'm not well off by any means but neither am I right at the bottom- attitude that is quite content to let these things happen an even worse crime?  And, well, he's right.  There are worse things people could be doing if they're that badly off than lifting a few tins of beans from Asda.  He's not encouraging shoplifting- if you read the whole sermon that's quite clear.  I don't think I would have said things the same way, but I agree on this- the fact that there are people are in this situation is a bigger problem than that they are shoplifting to make ends meet.