"Christmas donation frenzy ruins lives, says Archbishop"

From The Evening Standard:

Families should not make their lives “miserable” at Christmas by trying to keep up with “ridiculous” and “absurd” pressures to give money to the Church and other "good causes", the Archbishop of Canterbury has said.

The Most Rev Justin Welby admitted that although it was a “cliché of modern life” to complain about religion and one-upmanship at Christmas, he said families should show “love and affection” towards each other rather than trying to buy a place in Heaven or the grudging respect of their peers by buying a goat in Africa or sponsoring the rain forest

In an interview with The Martin Lewis Money Show, to be broadcast tomorrow night on ITV, he said: “The secular over-the-topness, everything you have to have, new clothes you have to have, new this, new that, new the other, that's what makes the economy tick.

"And without a functioning economy, there can be no surplus for good causes and there would be fewer retailers paying rent to The Church Commissioners.

“When you’ve given all your money to charity and try to explain to your children that one day they'll understand why they got no Christmas presents this year, you argue. It spoils life.

"To a child of twelve, an X-Box or a Nintendo 3DS says so much more.”