Matthew, Marx, Luke and John

Lorne Gunter, National Post:

There’s an old church joke about the perils of moral relativism that goes, “God called them the Ten Commandments, not the Ten Suggestions.”

Well, for Reverend Tim Jones of St. Lawrence Church in York, England, even Ten Suggestions seems a little too judgmental, too stern and rigid. He seems to look on them more as Ten Opinions. You know, take ‘em or leave ‘em. Don’t feel any pressure. Make of them what you will. Or make up your own.

Rev. Jones has set off a minor controversy by sermonizing that it is acceptable for poor parishioners to shoplift — to steal — provided they do so only from big chain stores. He insists his preaching does not violate the commandment “Thou shall not steal” because God’s love for the poor is more important than the property rights of the rich.

Really? Does the good reverend truly believe that God is a two-tiered divinity, with one set of values for his middle-class and wealthy creations and another, more flexible set for his poor ones?

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