Christmas Manifesto

Esta Navidad, yo voy a recordar mi relacion con mi madre, la tierra. Estare' en el desierto, con las estrellas brillantes y las montanas moradas. Voy a pensar en como puedo vivir mi vida en esta epoca de Navidad y siempre, pensando en ella en cada accion que hago. Gracias para acordarme de esto.

This Christmas, I'm going to remember my relationship with my mother, the earth. I will be in the desert, with the brilliant stars and the purple mountains. I'm going to think about how I can live my life at Christmas time and always, thinking of her in every thing I do. Thanks for reminding me of this.

At Copenhagen today, representatives from Africa and other developing countries suspended talks in order to stop the steamrolling of the Kyoto agreement by the Carbon Debtor Nations. Now that's a gift! They are listening to the preaching of the Earth. Disturb-a-lujah!

I really enjoyed the documentary on the Sundance channel.  I totally agree with your message. People are so stuck on buying gifts and not the importance of family.  I never understood what Christmas trees and Santa Clause had to do with Jesus' birthday.  Although I am Muslim (born and raised in the USA), I believe that people have forgotten the value of FAMILY and helping those in need.  The problem goes beyond Christmas; next there will be Valentines' Day, Easter, etc.  I hope that your message will reach hearts across America.  Assalamu Alaikum (may peace be upon you)

Why do you charge for membership in your church? Didn't Jesus also teach that anyone could worship him? Jesus never charged his audiences money. Why do you?

 Your message is wonderful!
I do not wish to be in any way disrespectful, but have you considered that perhaps the package in which you have chosen to present your message may have the opposite effect of what you are trying to convey? When I first saw a bit of your movie on Sundance, I SAW a creepy TV preacher, complete with overprocessed bleach job plastered in place with a TON of hairspray and my immediate reaction was to reach to quickly switch the channel. Fortunately the dialogue was not in synch with my preconceived notion of that creepy preacher.
I apologize for stereotyping you based upon appearances. However, my point is that if I immediately thought that about you, so many others may as well - and that image is so opposite of what you are bringing to light!!
It is a principle that my family has been living for YEARS!!! Handmade and homemade gifts and re-gifting with thoughtfulness are excellent, joyous things. We do not shop at big box stores like WalMarts and do our best to purchase American and local when possible. Handmade artisan crafts have such a beautiful life and uniqueness to them. We love to support our artist friends, many of whom are actually pretty well known.
We have even chosen to no longer shop at "conventional" grocery stores, instead choosing local Farmer's Markets & Trader Joe's. We have saved about 30% on our grocery bills, physically gotten much more healthy by removing the processed garbage (refined sugar, flour and high fructose corn syrup) from our diets and I believe benefit spiritually & karmically as well. 
In my opinion, the ONLY way that America has any chance at all of rebounding from the mess that the economy is in is to bring back a quality manufacturing/ producing culture to business. We are seeing the effects of unbridled corporate greed. Profit at all costs has a very high price - the prosperous way of life that we Americans have taken for granted for so long and our society's very foundation.
Thank you so much for having your mission be calling attention to such an important matter.

Hi Rev. Billy,

I saw your documentary last night and really enjoyed it. Your message is very much in tune with my already-held beliefs about consumerism (especially during Christmastime), but I still learned a lot.

However, people in my life like my sister and some friends like nothing more than going to Disneyland, buying everything their small kids want, and standing in line all night at Target or Wal-Mart for Black Friday specials. Because none of that appeals to my wife or I, they think we're elitist and are "denying" our children joy.

Perhaps you can blog about helping parents who have to deal not with their kids on the subject - but other parents!

Dear Reverand Billy,

Thank You Thank You! Thank you for reminding me to not be a Wal-mart consumer, to buy locally, and THINK about what I am purchasing, for myself and others!  Also, I appreciate the fact that you are NOT Christian, in the way you preach.  In your movie, you remind us that Christmas is about the hope that a child can teach us peace and love. Beautiful.

Sincerely,

A New Follower

"Glad you're NOT a christian"

One of my most prominent reverse-mentors, Oral Roberts, passed away yesterday.  He overcame early stuttering and early illness to cure thousands in his tent revivals and eventually dine with Presidents.  He started a sex-and-drink free (Supposedly) university which he named after himself.  Oral Roberts will always be remembered for his report that a 900 foot tall Jesus threatened to "take him home" if he didn't get more money for his church - thus taking the gun-to-my-own-head-and-I'll-shoot-if-you-don't-pay to a new level.

You know, fundamentalism in any form is wrong.  The paranoid right-wing of any religion is extreme and therefore dangerous, while being easy to laugh at, too.  Consumerism is the fundamentalist religion that we are against, and the one that is most dangerous now.  It has been normalized by commercial media and politicians, business schools and tourism.  Shop till you drop is drummed into us every day.  Many Christians and other religionists as well oppose Consumerism.  Whatever our differences, and it's hard to overlook homophobia and so forth - but we have such an emergency in the world, let's agree where we can.  Give gifts to the earth this Christmas.  What would Jesus buy?