There’s a new documentary on DVD, called "What Would Jesus Buy?"  It’s produced by Morgan Spurlock, who did the documentary about eating junk food for 30 days.  William Talen, who is better known as "Rev. Billy" of the Church of Stop Shopping, believes that consumerism and large retailers (Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Victoria’s Secret, Starbuck’s) are destroying the essential, core values of Americans, and turning us into non-stop gaping maws that have to be fed with more and more ’stuff’.  Of course, he’s right.

Rev. Billy and his followers travel the country preaching the gospel and using the  ’shopocalypse’ (the combining of the most mundane, shopping, with the most grandiose, the end of the world.) as a rallying point for divergent groups of listeners  While not the best directed and edited documentary I’ve ever seen, the reverend himself is certainly an interesting guy and is genuine and passionate, without being too deranged.  He reminds me of a saner Gary Busey.

As the media is urging people to go out and spend their tax rebate checks, at the same time that U.S. household savings are actually negative, the Reverend’s message certainly resonates.

You can see more about the Reverend Billy and his church at [1] http://www.revbilly.com

Shop less.  Save more.