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Church of Stop Shopping

www.revbilly.com/

Put the ODD back in God! Here's a performance group that has all the energy, wit, creativity, and cajones that AdBusters lost around the turn of the century. Reverend Billy and the Stop Shopping Gospel Choir are on a nationwide crusade to tempt people away from the evils of corpoate control, sweatshop-manufactured products, and the mentality that we have to sit back and let the corporations run roughshod over us. Praise Reverend Billy!

Billy found his calling during the days when Disney took over Times Square and turned it from the heart of New York City into a mega-mall full of video billboards and tourist traps. His crusade soon won him followers and compatriots, and they became a thorn in the side of the Disney Store, Starbucks, and especially Wal-Mart. When he and his choir aren't busy performing street theater to draw attention to their cause – and get arrested for trespassing – they're performing Retail Interventions and spreading the word of the coming Shopocalypse.

What's interesting is the way Rev. Billy's campaign is using parody and humor to get a serious message across, namely the idea that corporatization and brand-name homogenization are destroying local culture. Rev. Billy doesn't claim the Church of Stop Shopping to be an actual religion, although he does have it incorporated as a non-profit organization. He also puts on a hell of a show that can meet or beat any televangelist, any day of the week!