Posted on 11/09/2005 11:50:22 AM PST by big'ol_freeper
WAL-MART BANS CHRISTMAS:
BOYCOTT LAUNCHED
A woman who recently complained to Wal-Mart that the store was replacing “Merry Christmas” with “Happy Holidays” received an e-mail response from Customer Service. It appears below in its exact form:
“Walmart is a world wide organization and must remain conscious of this. The majority of the world still has different practices other than ‘christmas’ which is an ancient tradition that has its roots in Siberian shamanism. The colors associated with ‘christmas’ red and white are actually a representation of of the aminita mascera mushroom. Santa is also borrowed from the Caucuses, mistletoe from the Celts, yule log from the Goths, the time from the Visigoth and the tree from the worship of Baal. It is a wide wide world.”
To which Catholic League president Bill Donohue says: “This statement was signed by someone called Kirby. When I read it, I thought he might be drunk. But I was wrong. We sent Kirby’s response to Wal-Mart’s headquarters only to find that Dan Fogleman, Senior Manager, Public Relations, agrees. After acknowledging that he read Kirby’s response, Fogleman said, in part, the following”:
“As a retailer, we recognize some of our customers may be shopping for Chanukah or Kwanza gifts during this time of year and we certainly want these customers in our stores and to feel welcome, just as we do those buying for Christmas. As an employer, we recognize the significance of the Christmas holiday among our family of associates…and close our stores in observance, the only day during the year that we are closed.”
Bill Donohue says: “It’s nice to know that Wal-Mart is closed on a federal holiday. Now here is why I am asking the leaders of 126 religious organizations that span seven religious communities to boycott Wal-Mart. Go to its website and search for Hanukkah and up come 200 items. Click on Kwanzaa and up come 77. Click on Christmas, and here’s what you get: ‘We’ve brought you to our ‘Holiday’ page based on your search.’ In other words, Wal-Mart is practicing discrimination.”
If you searched even a little, you found Christmas.
"Where in the Bible does it talk about celebrating Christmas?"
1 Hesitations 2:3
"Thus saith the Lord who giveth wisdom, 'Anti, thou must GET A LIFE!"
Thanksgiving Day is not mentioned in the Bible either. What pagan celebration is that from?
Seriously, Christmas is a celebration of the fulfillment of the promise of God that He would give us a Redeemer that we can have peace with Him. The Psalms say, "Let everything that hath breath, Praise the Lord."
The gift giving and other stuff is unimportant to Christmas.
By the way, my wife and I celebrate both Thanksgiving and Christmas by inviting those of our church and service men who do not have family to celebrate with to our home to enjoy a hearty meal and a time of togetherness.
It sounds like it should be bogus but I do not think it is. As for the history of Christmas, they have a point. My complaint is in the way they say it. They KNOW most people who celebrate Christmas do so as a Christian holiday, knowing nothing of the history of the various symbols. So to make the comments about the history of Christmas in such a way as to dismiss the point of the petitioner is BAD business. And it shows hostility towards Christians. They're entitled to be hostile, but then we are entitled to not shop there.
Sounds like standard sellout of politically-correct-New-World-Order fare.
Oh HECK no.
I'd have one made from Zenfindel Port wine bottles. ;^)
If you want to see me you gotta go to my FR home page.
"Hear ye the word which the LORD speaketh unto you, O house of Israel: Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them. For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe. They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not."
And "Siberian shamanism"...? That appears to be a straw man inserted into a fake e-mail. Historians point to Saturnalia and Sol Invictus (and Mithra for some), instead. During the 4th Century, the Roman Emperor Constantine consolidated Christmas with the celebrations of those December 25th holidays.
Has anyone checked this out on Snopes.com?
I certainly didn't say that Walmart should legislate... if THEY want to pay their workers more, then they are at liberty to do it. You wanted to know why they would call for that - I'm just pointing out that it's not new for companies to consider that course. Henry Ford payed workers over twice what other factories were paying, and he got a lot of flack for doing that.
But Ford did it on his own - he didn't ask the government to do it. He saw the long term profit in paying his workers enough to buy his cars. Walmart caters to the lower classes - if they can't even make monthly bill payments, they won't have the cash to shop at Walmart. It's not rocket science.
But instead of calling for the government to make laws, they should just do it..
This story is garbage...it does not sound true
and
who cares...I dont care if they say they are the offical strore of Kwanza Pagan Days
They have the best prices and the economy and myself will reward that
Christians should make Christmas more meaningful. But let me point out the irony of Wal-Mart and other companies who do this offensive thing to us. They couldn't survive without Christmas. That "holiday" is when they make MOST of their profits.
It is one thing for Wal-Mart to decide to raise the pay of their own employees. It is entirely something else for them to call on the government to raise the minimum wage for everyone. Government is force.
I think it's more the fact that when one puts in Christmas from the search bar, Wal-Mart's website says, _verbatim_:
"We've brought you to our "Holiday " page based on your search."
This is not done for any of the other Holidays - and aren't they Holidays as well? Or is Christmas the only Holiday that really is a Holiday?
Or perhaps it is that Wal-Mart thinks that other Holidays are Holidays but Christmas is "Holiday" because it's not a Holiday - it's just a "Holiday"...
I'm confused.
Ten years ago, it wouldn't have phased most of us - I think we are getting more sensitive to such things because we have been threatened by real dangers to the cultural heritage of Christians in this country. Labelling Christmas as "Holiday" probably wasn't meant to be an overt disrespect to Christmas itself, but it's rather like calling a child "it" rather than by their name.
Considering that so many secularists are moving against Christmas and Christians, it is only natural for many Christians to be concerned...
You know, instead of calling Wal-Mart, Wal-Mart, lets just call them that big store over there on the corner so as not to offend the Target shoppers.:)
Don't know if Martin Lutehr invented it (I'll take your word for that) but I think if you read this passage from the Old Testament, you might be able to make the case that he was trying to put a Christian spin on an old (much older) pagan tradition:
"This is what the LORD says: "Do not learn the ways of the nations or be terrified by signs in the sky, though the nations are terrified by them. For the customs of the peoples are worthless; they cut a tree out of the forest, and a craftsman shapes it with his chisel. They adorn it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so it will not totter..."" (Jer. 10:2-4)
And please don't feel that I'm trying to tell you not to have a Christmas tree. Whatever holds meaning for you as you celebrate the birth of our Savior is fine with me. I just know that another wise man once said that "There is nothing new under the sun."
I don't think they are caving to the left...I think they are caving to the economy/market forces...money
Now if they successfully pull of this boycott then maybe it will cave the other way
Lets talk after Christmas - sales are up for everybody Walmart included. There is a reason why they call it black friday.
So does this mean that retailers and shopping districts are going to stop putting up Christmas decorations and playing carols from October through December?
That is the one. Thanks!
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