A few days after a Wal-Mart employee was trampled to death by a crowd of over-eager bargain shoppers last month, a candlelight vigil was held outside the store to remember the man and to raise public awareness about the perils of excessive consumption and materialism in everyday life.  

Reverend Billy leads a candlelight vigil at the Valley Stream, Long Island, Wal-Mart in memory of an employee trampled to death by overeager shoppers

The vigil was led by a charismatic performance artist named Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping, a long-running bit of political and education performance art let by New York City actor Bill Talen.

It was about 10 years ago that Talen - then an unemployed actor, artist and writer living in Los Angeles - decided to change his life and move to New York City. He bought himself a white suit, a black vest and a clerical collar and hit the streets as Reverend Billy, the high priest of the Church of Stop Shopping.

While the good reverend is not ordained by any church, this evangelical look-alike does have an honest-to-God philosophy rooted in his moral outrage at excessive and irresponsible consumption. Talen says when he first set up his simple pine pulpit on a sidewalk in Times Square, people started listening.

Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping on stage

"We had town meetings out in front of [the] Disney [store]," he says.

Soon after Talen, a flock of the newly 'converted' started going inside the store and performing, pretending sometimes to be customers.

"We were able to share information before we left or are forced out," Talen says.

That was just the beginning. Talen has since been joined by a 40-member gospel choir who sing praises to no particular God, for free. The Church of Stop Shopping performs regularly in New York and in other cities in the U.S. and around the world. (Click to listen to "Stop Shopping" song.) 

'Changealujah' to avoid the coming of the Shopocalypse

Their joyous sound contrasts sharply with their message warning against the "Shopocalypse," which Talen says looks a lot like the current world-wide economic crisis. (Click to listen to "Shopocalypse" sermon.)

"What we in the Church of Stop Shopping do know is that for years we have been told by our governments, by our religious institutions, by our economic institutions, that everything is going to be okay if you just shop until you drop!"

Reverend Billy takes a stand against overconsumption at a New York City Starbucks on the busiest shopping day before Christmas

The real solution to our woes, Talen says, is to take a break and slow down; consume less, buy less.

"We're addicted to shopping the way alcoholics are addicted to alcohol. We are stuffing a hole in our soul with things we are purchasing," he says.

Talen says the best response is to build healthy neighborhoods and relationships.

"I don't need to buy a product to talk to you," he says. "Let's just do it!"

Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping Choir spread their ministry from coast to coast in the 2007 Morgan Spurlock documentary, What Would Jesus Buy?

Reverend Billy sermonizes about core human values - and shopping isn't one of them. You can see him at work in the 2007 Morgan Spurlock documentary What Would Jesus Buy?

The film follows the Church of Stop Shopping on a bus tour across the United States during Christmas season. En route, the troupe stages impromptu "interventions" in shopping malls, churches, at people's front doors and in Disneyland, where Billy and choir in full costume are at first mistaken for Disney fantasy characters. They are soon escorted out of Disneyland by the police.

While Talen is not a religious man, he has genuine faith.  

"You can't shop your way to happiness," he says.  

Reverend Billy takes his stop shopping message to Disneyland's Main Street

Asked his wish for the New Year, the preacher in him can't resist an impromptu sermon.

"The earth has a message that is unmistakable. It is coming in the form of tornadoes, floods, fires and droughts. We have to help each other to slow down our consumerism, and we have to do it at a rate that is radically fast. We need to change," he says, "Changealujah!"

With his trademark wisdom and wit, Bill Talen, as Reverend Billy, hopes to make the world a better, happier place - not only at Christmas time but throughout the entire year.