Posted on 11/11/2005 12:27:04 AM PST by News Hunter
"We at Wal-Mart believe this e-mail between a temporary associate and one of our valued customers was entirely inappropriate. Its contents in no way represent the policies, practices or views of our company. This associate, who was hired less than three weeks ago, is no longer employed by our company."
(Excerpt) Read more at wnd.com ...
There's something going on that you don't know about.
"Companies don't mind making a buck off this Countries Christian roots they just don't want to honor its roots..."
Then why are Christians continuing to buy stuff? The retailers have co-opted a holiday that gives them their income for the year and yet they refuse to honor those who pay for it.
Yeah, it is a multicultural country, but I have yet to see the retailer that will make the year's income on Kwanza, Hanukka, or Ramadan.
We stopped giving lots of presents a few years ago and just exchange one small thing on Christmas Eve. Now, the Christmas dinner after services is something else entirely!!! ( - ;
I rather doubt the term "Saturnalia" has any more accuracy than "Christmas." And 90% of the people opening gifts under a tree on December 25th would vehemently deny any any religious connection to the event other than Christianity. No matter how shallow their religion.
True Christianity really doesn't have any holidays. Some of the more high strung might celebrate Jewish holidays, but that may not be any more acceptable than a pagan holiday. (No, I am not equating Jews with pagans, I am pointing out that the new testament book of Galatians makes it clear that Christianity is a clear break from Judaism.)
The same writer, Paul, makes it pretty clear though in Corinthians that you may celebrate whatever holiday you wish, or not.
WalMart is apparently unwilling to keep X in Xmas...
As another poster pointed out, Wal-Mart carries a pretty significant selection of Christian items. I just don't see the company's failure to actively promote Christmas (assuming that's what this is) as that big of a deal. From the selection I've seen, the Christmas/Christian items seem to vastly outnumber Hannukah/Kwanzaa/solstice/whatever merchandise. That's a business decision, I suspect, not an endorsement. I don't expect Wal-Mart to celebrate my holidays for me; I hope and expect they will provide merchandise that I use to mark the holiday for myself and my family. I expect my faith to be tolerated, but the rest is up to me. I don't need my beliefs affirmed by every Wal-Mart greeter.
I can see where the hypocrisy bothers you, but stores commercializing and profiting from holidays, often contrary to the meaning of the holiday, is nothing new. I don't think Veterans' Day, for instance, was supposed to honor our military by putting winter coats on sale! That reminds me-- I checked google this morning. You know how every holiday, the google logo is modified to reflect it (groundhog on Feb. 2, that kind of thing)? I see nothing on the google logo to honor Veterans' Day. Now that, I admit, bugged me!
I rather doubt the term "Saturnalia" has any more accuracy than "Christmas." And 90% of the people opening gifts under a tree on December 25th would vehemently deny any any religious connection to the event other than Christianity. No matter how shallow their religion.
Any discussion of a specific word's derivation is merely semantic, compared to the reality of the history. The Orthodox Church refers to "Christmas" as "The Nativity of our Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ", and one does not say "Merry Christmas" but "Christ is Born!". The observance of this HOLYday goes back almost 2,000 years as specifically Christian, and was originally a joint celebration with the Baptism of Christ in the Jordan ("Theophany"), which was then separated about 400 AD.
I recently saw an 1940's movie where they wished Happy Holidays, and it reminded me that HH used to mean Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's!
ooooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhh.......busted!
John Gibson was condemning Wal-Mart yesterday; he said the felt sure that he'd be seeing Wal-Mart reversing their position very soon.....looks like that happened less than 24 hours after his program. : )
Wal-Mart officials are standing by their policy of encouraging employees to use the "Happy Holidays" greeting rather than "Merry Christmas," but says the worker responsible for an e-mail describing the pagan origins of Christmas no longer works for the company.
"Today, I e-mailed Dan Fogleman," Donohue continued, "letting him know the following:
'Now that Wal-Mart is standing by its position, I hope you're ready for our next move. Don't forget, we have the next six weeks to pull out all the stops, and we will.'"
From the Walmart complains about Tesco article
"As you get over 30% and higher I am sure there is a point where government is compelled to intervene"
You said exactly my thoughts. Sometimes when I read threads here I wonder where I am. Maybe someone just needs to spell out the basics:
Wal-Mart is a BUSINESS. They have an enormous customer base. They are bound to offend someone. So, they try as hard as possible to offend no one.
I am very Christian. I understand that we celebrate Christmas because it is the birthday of Christ.
However, Thanksgiving, which marks the beginning of the Holiday Season, is not a part of Christmas. The Jewish Holidays are not a part of Christmas. As much as I hate to say it, Ramadan and Kwanza are not a part of Christmas. But they, whether legitimate or not, are part of the Holiday Season.
People here need to think things through before they over-react. Although I've purchased most of my gifts already from "Work of Human Hands," if I have any last minute stuff to get, I'll go to Wal-mart. They are a great American success story. They provide a fair product at a fair price. They employ thousands. They are very good corporate citizens.
Boycott, indeed! Who are you people?
That is SUCH good news to start out the day!! This goes to show how we CAN take Christmas back, out of the hands of the pc police, corporations that caved in or didn't know better, and whiners.
Whoops, I should have read your second post :(
If it were an occasional "happy holidays" and an occasional box labeled "holiday cards," it'd be one thing, but everywhere I go, I see retailers profiting from the holy day without ever mentioning the "C" word.
Being familiar with Bill Donohue, I would say he used the word he meant to use: flatulent which can mean pompous or bloated.
My wife and I observed the birth of Christ on October 17th, at Tabernacles. Wal-Mart won't be getting a dime from me at 'Christmas', but, neither will anyone else. :-) Sure is peaceful to rest quietly in my living room whilst everyone is banging heads over parking spaces and sale items the next several weeks. Enjoy!
All that pesky stuff about being Lord might have something to do with it.
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