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WAL-MART BANS CHRISTMAS: BOYCOTT LAUNCHED
Catholic League ^ | 9 November 2005 | William Donohue

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.”


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: 7970forchristmas; antichrsistmas; bigots; brooklynbridge; catholicleague; christianbashing; christianity; christians; christmas; credulity; email; fodderforsnopes; fraud; grinchstolechristmas; hatewalmartbs; hoax; makechinaricherbuywm; religion; religiousintolerance; urbanlegend; urbanmyth; walmart; waronchristmas
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To: I'm ALL Right!

If you searched even a little, you found Christmas.


261 posted on 11/09/2005 1:14:24 PM PST by HairOfTheDog (Join the Hobbit Hole Troop Support - http://freeper.the-hobbit-hole.net/ 1,000 knives and counting!)
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To: antisocial

"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.


262 posted on 11/09/2005 1:17:18 PM PST by Sensei Ern (Now, IB4Z! http://trss.blogspot.com/)
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To: Bavarian Leprechaun

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.


263 posted on 11/09/2005 1:19:24 PM PST by The Ghost of FReepers Past (Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people. Ps. 14:34)
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To: dirtstiff
"Try the searches on their Website!! They refuse to acknowledge Christmas for fear of offending but they sure come up with a lot of Islamic propoganda and stuff when you do a search for Ramadan. Nice that they want to include everybody EXCEPT Christians. "

Sounds like standard sellout of politically-correct-New-World-Order fare.

264 posted on 11/09/2005 1:19:53 PM PST by TheClintons-STILLAnti-American
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To: Cathy
Is that you?

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.

265 posted on 11/09/2005 1:20:40 PM PST by Just another Joe (Warning: FReeping can be addictive and helpful to your mental health)
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To: GrandEagle
You may be thinking of Jeremiah 10:

"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."

266 posted on 11/09/2005 1:21:04 PM PST by Technogeeb
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To: big'ol_freeper

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.


267 posted on 11/09/2005 1:21:12 PM PST by familyop ("Let us try" sounds better, don't you think? "Essayons" is so...Latin.)
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To: big'ol_freeper

Has anyone checked this out on Snopes.com?


268 posted on 11/09/2005 1:21:56 PM PST by no dems (43 muscles to smile, 17 to frown, two to pull a trigger; I'm lazy and tired of smiling.)
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To: The Ghost of FReepers Past
Ah, so you lean liberal on that subject? That explains a lot.

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..

269 posted on 11/09/2005 1:24:11 PM PST by blaise
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To: NavyCanDo

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


270 posted on 11/09/2005 1:25:14 PM PST by schoolsinsession3
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To: Sensei Ern
The point is not about whether you think Christmas is important. The point is that this company is caving into political correctness -- pressure from the left -- by doing this. Merry Christmas was just fine with them last year. The change and the hostile tone is the problem. You cannot deny the leftist motives behind all of the anti-Christmas campaigns.

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.

271 posted on 11/09/2005 1:25:22 PM PST by The Ghost of FReepers Past (Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people. Ps. 14:34)
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To: blaise

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.


272 posted on 11/09/2005 1:26:24 PM PST by The Ghost of FReepers Past (Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people. Ps. 14:34)
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To: HairOfTheDog

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...


273 posted on 11/09/2005 1:26:46 PM PST by dandelion
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To: blaise

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.:)


274 posted on 11/09/2005 1:27:01 PM PST by PLOM...NOT! (Liberal activists are the paparazzi of politics)
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To: HairOfTheDog

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=3903171


275 posted on 11/09/2005 1:27:14 PM PST by ecurbh (Join the Hobbit Hole Troop Support - http://freeper.the-hobbit-hole.net/)
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To: The Red Zone
"A Christmas tree is an evolution from Baal worship? Tell that to Martin Luther who invented it."

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."

276 posted on 11/09/2005 1:27:31 PM PST by Pablo64 ("Everything I say is fully substantiated by my own opinion.")
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To: The Ghost of FReepers Past

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


277 posted on 11/09/2005 1:27:52 PM PST by schoolsinsession3
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To: dmz

Lets talk after Christmas - sales are up for everybody Walmart included. There is a reason why they call it black friday.


278 posted on 11/09/2005 1:27:58 PM PST by sasafras ("Licentiousness destroyes order, and when chaos ensues, the yearning for order will destroy freedom.)
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To: big'ol_freeper

So does this mean that retailers and shopping districts are going to stop putting up Christmas decorations and playing carols from October through December?


279 posted on 11/09/2005 1:28:44 PM PST by Sam Cree (absolute reality)
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To: Technogeeb

That is the one. Thanks!


280 posted on 11/09/2005 1:29:37 PM PST by GrandEagle
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