Question about stealing.

[Spiderman]

Is stealing $1,000 from a billionaire like Bill Gates or Donald Trump as sinful as stealing $1,000 from someone who only makes $1,000 a month? I feel like the latter is a worse sin.

Is shoplifting from Walmart just as sinful as stealing the same item from someone who is impoverished? I personally think the latter is worse.

 

[Spiderman]

If you are an atheist who doesn't believe in sin, do you think one is a worse crime than the other?

 

[BSM1]

Stealing is stealing. However, I don't think surviving is stealing.

 

[74x12]

Is stealing $1,000 from a billionaire like Bill Gates or Donald Trump as sinful as stealing $1,000 from someone who only makes $1,000 a month? I feel like the latter is a worse sin.

Is shoplifting from Walmart just as sinful as stealing the same item from someone who is impoverished? I personally think the latter is worse.

You're no doubt correct but that doesn't mean either one is right.

 

[Spiderman]

I'd say the action which causes someone the most grief is always the greater iniquity.

 

[Father Heathen]

Wrongs are weighed by the severity of their impact. While both are wrong, it is worse to steal from someone who is impoverished because they suffer greater from the theft than would a large corporation like Walmart. The consequences of actions are what make either right or wrong to begin with, not the arbitrary concept of "sin".

Edit: Intent and motive factor in, too.

 

[Sunstone]

The wrongness of stealing depends on the injury it causes and whether there are any mitigating factors involved.

For instance, a corporation, such as Walmart, that steals a thousand dollars from a low wage employee by requiring him or her to work overtime off the clock is committing a greater wrong than a person who steals a thousand dollars from a billionaire, because the former theft hurts someone more than the latter theft.

But into that you can also factor mitigating factors. If someone steals food in order to survive, and does not thereby cause someone else to go hungry and/or die, that's not such a bad thing as a corporation stealing from low wage employees in order to increase its profits.

 

[Duke_Leto]

"In its majestic equality, the law forbids rich and poor alike to sleep under bridges, beg in the streets and steal loaves of bread."

 

[Unveiled Artist]

Is stealing $1,000 from a billionaire like Bill Gates or Donald Trump as sinful as stealing $1,000 from someone who only makes $1,000 a month? I feel like the latter is a worse sin.

Is shoplifting from Walmart just as sinful as stealing the same item from someone who is impoverished? I personally think the latter is worse.

Stealing is wrong regardless the situation. Justification for the action (wrong or right) is taken into consideration before punishing the perosn for her action.

 

[SalixIncendium]

Is stealing $1,000 from a billionaire like Bill Gates or Donald Trump as sinful as stealing $1,000 from someone who only makes $1,000 a month? I feel like the latter is a worse sin.

Is shoplifting from Walmart just as sinful as stealing the same item from someone who is impoverished? I personally think the latter is worse.

If you are an atheist who doesn't believe in sin, do you think one is a worse crime than the other?

Stealing is wrong. The wealth of someone from whom you steal has no impact on the wrongness of the act.

However, in terms of causality, there is a significant difference of impact when it comes to harm done.

Salix,
A non-atheist that does not believe in sin.

 

[Twilight Hue]

Is stealing $1,000 from a billionaire like Bill Gates or Donald Trump as sinful as stealing $1,000 from someone who only makes $1,000 a month? I feel like the latter is a worse sin.

Is shoplifting from Walmart just as sinful as stealing the same item from someone who is impoverished? I personally think the latter is worse.

You're correct on principle, but like already mentioned, stealing is stealing.

 

[Jumi]

It's the same as demanding more of someone's total wealth for basic services.

 

[Jollybear]

Is stealing $1,000 from a billionaire like Bill Gates or Donald Trump as sinful as stealing $1,000 from someone who only makes $1,000 a month? I feel like the latter is a worse sin.

Is shoplifting from Walmart just as sinful as stealing the same item from someone who is impoverished? I personally think the latter is worse.

Steeling from the wealthy insults all the hard work the wealthy went through to get to that status.

It also says that the wealthy should he ok with it, since they have more then enough. Well, with that intitlement mentality, if everyone took from the wealthy, then the wealthy would have nothing and be right back at squar one where they began all there hard work.

Perhaps the poor instead of steeling from the ritch, should learn the work ethic from the ritch.

Dont get me wrong now, ritch people should help those who have genuine needs.

But, should you give someone an apple to eat or a seed to plant?

 

[PureX]

Sin is not defined by an act, it's only exemplified by the act. Sin is defined by the spiritual state that enables us to commit the act.

 

[ChristineM]

If you are an atheist who doesn't believe in sin, do you think one is a worse crime than the other?

Stealing is stealing no matter how you rationalise it. And what has atheism to do with it. The atheists i know (and i know plenty) are just as moral (if not more so) than many religious people i know.

 

[joe1776]

If you are an atheist who doesn't believe in sin, do you think one is a worse crime than the other?

sin is an action or type of behaviour which is believed to break the laws of God.

I don't believe in sin. I take my cues from conscience.

Stealing from someone who needs it does more harm by comparison. And, since conscience seems to warn us against intentionally causing harm to innocent people, I think the amount of harm is a factor.

So, I agree with your instincts.

 

[Duke_Leto]

Steeling from the wealthy insults all the hard work the wealthy went through to get to that status.

It also says that the wealthy should he ok with it, since they have more then enough. Well, with that intitlement mentality, if everyone took from the wealthy, then the wealthy would have nothing and be right back at squar one where they began all there hard work.

Perhaps the poor instead of steeling from the ritch, should learn the work ethic from the ritch.

Dont get me wrong now, ritch people should help those who have genuine needs.

But, should you give someone an apple to eat or a seed to plant?

Are you seriously suggesting that wealthy people "worked harder" than poor people?

 

[Jollybear]

Are you seriously suggesting that wealthy people "worked harder" than poor people?

No, no im not.

Some poor people work hard, but get ****y luck.

But, luck does not play a 100% role either.

Its not just hard work, its SMART work. As the saying goes, work smarter not harder. Smart decisions help with success too.

 

[lostwanderingsoul]

I'd say the action which causes someone the most grief is always the greater iniquity.

So if you attack someone with a knife it is not as bad to cut them once as to cut them twice. Complete nonsense. If you take something that is not yours, it is stealing. Period.

 

[Vinayaka]

I had a student (middle class neighbourhood, but darn they should have cognised it) who stole food from other kids in the most sneaky of ways, especially junk food, or candy. This was grade 5, and she had a notorious reputation for it. She's been punished, even strapped for it. Other kids spied on her, and she'd lie about it with an incredibly straight face. When I dug deeper, I saw neglect in the form of physical and emotional hunger. I started supplying snacks. Guess what? The thieving stopped. Sometimes we need to ask why, and look deeper.