The Limits of Private Property

 

My friend Xerxes posts a comment from a Muslim reader, advertising it as “a different value system, for most of us.” The Muslim explains that, according to shariah law, it is not illegal to steal food if you are starving.

It is a sad commentary on how we’ve lost touch with our moral traditions, in the modern era, that this should appear to be “a different value system.” This is traditional Christian morality. The right to life trumps the right to property, and God put food here for us all. An ancient Christian maxim: "If I have two coats and my neighbor has none, I am a thief." St. John Crysostom: "Not to enable the poor to share in our goods is to steal from them and deprive them of life. The goods we possess are not ours, but theirs." 

You have to realize this to understand Les Miserables. Valjean is persecuted for stealing a loaf of bread to feed a starving child. He is in the right, the government is in the wrong, and is thereby shown to be oppressive.