The story is not true. The news ran the story last night. I read Wal-Mart's press release and Snopes.com never had the full story on this controversy as it was still unfolding. The person who was an employee and was quoted was terminated. They will answer the phones with Happy Holidays as it incompasses all the holidays from Thanksgiving through into the New Year. However you can search on Christmas and will be selling all Christmas goods. They have not told anyone to not wish customers a very Merry Christmas.
The Catholic League I am very surprised at for not following up on the accuracy of this story.
Snopes is not always accurate.
If you read the link, you'd see it agrees with your synopsis...however, they claim the story is true. And you do too with your 4th sentence. Not sure where the disagreement is here. I've always found Snopes to be informative and upfront in terms of what they can and can not verify. If your news program has more to the story perhaps they too could email Snopes with the information in hand and have that authenticated. It took exactly 1 day for them to respond to me. Out of the hundreds of emails they recieve each day, I found getting a response at all, quite impressive. Shoot an email over to Snopes with the extra info..perhaps some characterization at their site could use additional clarity.
While I'm not a shopper of WalMart, I am concerned and will boycott, any store that shuts Christians and the celebration of Christmas, out. I will help spread the word, if the word is fact. But, there have been hundreds of reckless rumors targeted at business for purely political reasons that have been completely fabricated, and I want no part of being a tool spreading misinformation.
If Snopes is carrying an agenda here, I've never seen it. If you have information to the contrary, I would most definitely like to know. If Snopes credibility is questionable, then lay the facts out.