Per USA Today, the Pope is not too happy with the consumerization of Christmas:

Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday criticized "materialistic" ways of celebrating Christmas, pressing the Vatican's campaign against unbridled consumerism. His brief comments, delivered from the window of his private studio to pilgrims below in St. Peter's Square, built on his dismay expressed Saturday that ever younger boys and girls are caught up in consumer pursuits. "The way of living out, and perceiving, Christmas unfortunately quite often suffers from a materialistic mentality," Benedict said.

And the pseudo-minister, the Reverend Billy, of the Church of Stop Shopping, agrees:

[B]eneath the blond pompadour and white suit, he's not a real pastor, but he does preach with a Jimmy Swaggart lilt about what he calls the "Shopocalypse." The New York-based performer-activist travels the country with his Church of Stop Shopping Gospel Choir evangelizing uninvited at chain stores and is the subject of the new film, What Would Jesus Buy? Rev. Billy (aka Bill Talen) says corporate gluttony has whipped holiday sentiment into an obligation to spend on gifts recipients might not even want, generating "the opposite of excitement, which is dread." "This year, we need to take Christmas back," the self-proclaimed minister said. "Let's have a creative Christmas."

Eduardo M. Peñalver is the Allan R. Tessler Dean of the Cornell Law School. The views expressed in the piece are his own, and should not be attributed to Cornell University or Cornell Law School.

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