The British government, supermarket chains and the Bishop of London have all rejected comments by a retired Anglican priest, John Papworth, who said that it was not a sin to steal from superstores, the large commercial outlets for the big retail chains who between them control much of Britain's business.
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"I don't regard it as stealing," Papworth, 75, last week told a meeting in London discussing the fight against crime. "I regard it as a badly needed reallocation of economic resources." Police officers were present when Pap-worth made his remarks, which he repeated on BBC Radio.Papworth said superstores were "places of evil and temptation" that had forced small shops out of business.