Christmas Makes Me Paranoid…

Every Christmas we lament the increasing commercialisation of one of Christianity’s most significant days. And every Christmas I grow just a little more paranoid with the idea that the free-market is out to destroy Christianity. Not, I hasten to add, because they are evil, anti-Christian villains (although sometimes I wonder…) but because there is something intrinsically incompatible with the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth on the one hand, and the idea that unbridled consumption is somehow an intrinsic good on the other. You can’t serve God and Mammon both, and according to my paranoid fantasy, one must first kill Jesus if one is to grow fat and wealthy. Yes, yes, it’s a silly thesis, I know, but the advantage of being paranoid is that a firm grasp on reality isn’t a prerequisite.

Except…

A really interesting article by Matt J. Rossano (Professor and Department Head of Psychology, Southeastern Louisiana University) gives my thesis a bit more in the way of support.