By F Staff

Reverend Billy is on a mission to preach the word –– the word of consumerist evil. In a time when what you buy is who you are, Reverend Billy is on the street converting shoppers to his Church. Whether you consider it preaching or performing, the Reverend uses the street as his pulpit. Spreading the word outside of Starbucks, Kmart, and other capitalist locales around New York City, the Reverend believes “Consumerism is a dull way of life. We’re all sinners. We’re all shoppers. Let’s do what we can.” Reverend Billy, a.k.a. Bill Talen, started his crusade out of a need to address political issues dealing with the hypocrisy of over-consumption. In 1998 Reverend Billy made his first appearance outside of the Disney Store in Times Square and was eventually was escorted away by the police. His mission became clear in 1999, the year in which protestors took to the streets in Seattle against the World Trade Organization. Now, Reverend Billy has his own Church of Stop Shopping and a gospel choir made up of volunteers to spread the word. His flair for performing and his knack of dramatizing the absurdities of our time makes Reverend Billy one of the most outspoken crusaders of anti- consumerism.