Why Does Walmart Hate Christmas?

Here we go again with Christian bullies claiming that saying Happy Holidays is an attempt to steal Christmas. Wal-Mart says that it intends to use the Happy Holidays greeting in lieu of the more narrow Merry Christmas so now the drum beats are sounding and the wagons are circling.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. on Thursday said it no longer employs a worker who wrote to a shopper that Christmas is a mix of world religions, but that the company does support the generic greeting, 'Happy Holidays,' as being more inclusive amid year-end celebrations by numerous faiths.

The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights criticized the world's largest retailer and called for a boycott over Wal-Mart's approach to Christmas.

'We want a) an apology for insulting Christians by effectively banning Christmas and b) a withdrawal of its insane statement regarding the origins of Christmas and c) a revision on its website,' Catholic League President Bill Donohue said on the group's Web site.

In an interview, Donohue dismissed Wal-Mart's statement that it was respecting multiple beliefs as 'corporate arrogance.'

'If Wal-Mart, which is the family-friendly institution, gets away with this, then all the other department stores will just fall into line,' he told The Associated Press on Thursday.

The dispute erupted after a Wal-Mart worker responded to a woman who complained that the company was replacing "Merry Christmas" with "Happy Holidays." The response described Christmas as a combination of world traditions from Siberian shamanism to Visigoth calendars.

The e-mail, which Wal-Mart spokesman Dan Fogleman said was genuine, said Wal-Mart had to act as a global organization in a world with many different practices.

"The colors associated with Christmas red and white are actually a representation of the aminita mascera (sic) 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," said the e-mail, from a customer service worker identified only as Kirby.

Here are some hints for the "little bus" people. Happy Holidays encompasses the entire holiday season. From a shopping standpoint (the reason stores exist in the first place), it begins the day after Thanksgiving. While most consider it to be the Christmas season, there are numerous other holidays and celebrations which occur during the same time period: Hannukah, Kwanzaa, Winter Soulstice, New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. This is why it is more appropos to embrace the entire season and include ALL celebrations - not just one day. I have no idea why some random "temporary" employee would attempt to provide a consumer with facts about the pagan orgins of many symbols of Christmas (because that is beside the point). But, I'd hardly call Wal-Mart's decision to include all of its customers "corporate arrogance." I'd say that the Catholic League was exhibiting "Christian arrogance" by assuming that the holidays were all about them. As someone who HATES Wal-Mart, I'm already effectively boycotting them by never shopping there. So, them being targeted is no skin off of my teeth. I just wish these "Christians" would show this much outrage about Wal-Mart's questionable business practices and employee rights/benefits policies.