"Jesus wants people to spend money."

And Jesus Said, Give Only to Those Who Are Worthy

"... This attitude is exemplified by Kathy Shaidle, who writes that 'If poor people could be trusted with money, they wouldn't be poor in the first place...' I guess that's the new Catholic social consciousness: Blessed are the trustworthy poor, for they won't spend our charity irresponsibly... Blessed are the skeptically merciful, for they won't bestow mercy on those who don't deserve it...
Shaidle is Canadian, not American, but it appears that she has been infected with some pernicious thinking from south of the border...."

Down south here, I see the attitude as something like "I gave some poor person some money, in His name. Can I help it if the poor person gave me an iPod Nano and asked me if I wanted it gift-wrapped?"

Mr. Stross, I mentioned your position on the "War on Christmas" at a party Saturday night, and a JPL scientist suggested that we sneakily convince some smarmy televangelists to launch a "War on Xmas" and hope that they don't examine the 2K-year-old pun on the X.

See also the Ayn Rand Institute position:
Why Christmas Should Be More Commercial
Wednesday, December 24, 2003
By: Leonard Peikoff