WAL-MART HAS TOOK CHRIST OUT OF CHRISTMAS this year!!!!

You do know that there are other religions right? This is not just
Christmas season. What about Hanukkah? Yule? What is wrong with being
an atheist?! God did not create the people, people created God. Humans
would be better off without Christ.

THIS IS NOT TRUE. I AM A SUPERVISOR FOR THE COMPANY AND ALL DAY LONG
FROM THE TIME I GET THERE TIL THE TIME I LEAVE THEY PLAY RELIGIOUS
HOLIDAY MUSIC WHICH INCLUDES THE WORDS GOD, JESUS AND THE LORD CHRIST
OUR SAVIOR...TO BE HONEST ALOT OF THE SONGS I LEARNED IN CHURCH! AS
EMPLOYEES WE ARE ENCOURAGED TO SAY MERRY CHRISTMAS TO OUR CUSTOMERS
AND THE SAME GOES FOR SAMS CLUB WHICH IS ALSO PART OF THE WALMART
COMPANY. SO AS FAR AS YOU HEARING THIS ON TV...YOU CANT ALWAYS BELIEVE
WHAT YOU HEAR. AND SAM WALTON, FOUNDER OF WALMART AND SAMS CLUB, WOULD
BE VERY PROUD IF HE WERE ALIVE TODAY. BEFORE YOU GET ON HERE TYPING
AWAY AS IF YOU HAVE A CLUE TRY DOING SOME RESEARCH. I WAS ONLINE AT
WALMART AND SAMS CLUB... BOTH SITES I TYPED IN CHRISTMAS AND THEY BOTH
BROUGHT UP A FEW PAGES OF ITEMS THAT HAVE THE WORD CHRISTMAS IN IT.
WHAT DO YOU WANT??? BIBLE VERSES EVERYTIME YOU LOGIN?? THINK BEFORE
YOU SPEAK OR IN THIS CASE TYPE!!

Some things are true whether you choose to believe them or not. I
think in this ever challenging world of sue happy people,
organizations like Walmart are forced to comply. With who? The people
that are offended by a holiday cheer, and those offended have so much
more in their life to worry about then someone that is a Christian. If
we are truly Christians then we believe in love, charity, kindness,
and giving. And we carry a peace that no one else can explain. Until
they experience the true gift from Christ, the Prince of peace. It is
not our job to judge, although very difficult at times. If someone is
offended by our "Merry Christmas Voice," our role is to show an
outpouring of love. To the angered people, to the people that find
hate at every corner, there is love that can combat that bad feeling.
Nothing else will take the sorrow away. We in the Christian world
welcome you to walk with the Saviour and in the end feel the touch of
the masters hand of light, love and charity. God bless you all no
matter what your faith is this holiday season.

All the best,

J

you are so retarded what if there is some emergency and the closest
place is walmart???
would you rather die??
THATS SO STUPID THINK OF IT!!

Yalls? Sounds like someone needs to enroll in a remedial grammar
class instead of worrying about Wal-Mart being open on Christmas. You
may not want to believe this but there will be a lot of Christians in
Wal-Mart on Christmas, including myself. Please do us all a favor and
stay out of the store as you promised. Wal-Mart already has its share
of customers who haven't gone past the third grade (yalls). I highly
doubt they'd notice.

Y'all come back now, ya here.

Good Lord, not this again.

Kids, this letter is more than a year old. Most of the comments are
equally as old. Mari H. (the mouth-breathing redneck who wrote this
particular screed) was kicked off PlanetFeedback last May for going on
a night-long racist, homophobic, xenophobic tirade against every
single member of the site. Rest assured that she no longer reads any
comments to her letter. She is long gone and not missed by anyone.

It's time to move on. Continued discussion just gives this letter more
and more attention that it never deserved in the first place. Let it
go. Seriously.

I don't believe in the whole God/Jesus/Holy Ghost thing but come on
people. Most of you are VERY rude. there is no need to rip this person
apart for anything other than spelling and grammar skills. She is a
Christian and is entitled to that. If she chooses not to shop at
Walmart, no biggie, one of the non-christian people may cover the
losses for them.


I guess I just don't see why everyone is attacking her religion, and
no one can tell me there haven't been PLAIN attacks on her religion.
This is ridiculous.

Typicaly rightwing nut xtian... Uneducated, big mouth, and knows
nothing of what she talks about.

I opened the Wal-mart Web page "yall" and it said "Merry Christmas"
and they sale christmas trees and have a link to christmas items??...
your ignorant:)

Christians,

Jesus was a cult leader and nothing more.... his message took off
and spread like wildfire, simply because, well, it's a good message
filled with the common sense, "treat others as you want to be
treated"...easy enough for people to accept.. along with the cute
little fairy tales.
Politicians have always used religion to control the mass
population and prevent chaos. Christian belief is a product of
politics and control. You sheep just don't know any better. You
refuse to question if it's all true. Instead you just say, "Faith" is
all we need. You and all the other christians don't know anything
about the truth, and that is what pisses off all the logical
"non-believers". You claim you know, when the truth is, you don't
know anything more than anyone else. That is why people don't like
you. Of course the bible is going to say that people aren't going to
bleieve and that they are going to call you an idiot. It was written
with the intent to keep you believing regardless of what logical and
intelligent people say about it. Christians will die to keep thier
beleif system alive, and that fact alone is what makes it a dangerous
thing to believe in. They'll stomp all over Disneyland and Walmart
and any other organization that is not living up to it's (or You're)
expectations. It's no better than islam or any other religion. And
yes, you're an idiot for believing. And you're an idiot for believing
the book of stories has all the answers to life.
Believe in that non-sense but keep it to yourself. Morals and
ethics are way more possible without a stupid corupt religion to fuck
it all up. Let the intelligent people lead this country for once,
Dear God!!

I don't have the time, or really feel the need to read all of the
replies to this, but I'm sure a good amount will coincide with my
view:

Shut the hell up. You think Christians are the only people that go
shopping at Wal-Mart? Did you know that Islam is the fastest growing
religion in the world? That the Catholic population is shrinking in
record numbers, since the revolting number of scams and molestations
in the church?

What about people that don't even have a religion? I mean, what if
most stores were owned by Muslims, and they had their holiday names
all over everything - how would YOU feel?

And really, what does it even matter? Does Jesus Christ actually care
about Wal-Mart's selling habits, or my purchasing habits? Religion
should have absolutely nothing to do with shopping. When you
celebrate Christmas, you aren't celebrating the birth of Christ, not
by buying cheap gifts at WalMart. If you really care about
celebrating the birth of Christ - which, by the way, wasn't even
mentioned in the Bible - then go to church. Spend time with family.
Have a nice dinner and spend all night talking about the greatness of
your Lord. That's a celebration.

Yet you're focusing on WalMart, which has NOTHING to do with religion.
You are a simpleminded, foolish, ridiculously ignorant, self-centered
moron. People like you are 50% of the reason I quit religion.

I guarantee that your redneck family and hillbilly friends will be
back to Walmart within a week or two, after the holiday rush.

On a closing note, you said that God will punish the people
responsible for not using "Christmas" during their seasonal ad
campaings. So.. a loving, and merciful God will send business owners
to hell for not pushing his religion onto its customers? Show me that
part in the Bible. Please. What do you do? Mechanic? McDonald's
employee? Farmer? Whatever you do, I would pay you out of my own
pocket, to see you push your religion on every customer you came
across. "Here's your cheeseburger. Worship Jesus."
I'd punch you in the face for something like that, if you hadn't
already been sued or fired first.

Bottom line - it's shopping. At Walmart. Jesus doesn't care. Trust
me.
-captainsquanto@cox.net

You stupid little piece of garbage. Do you have any idea what the hell
you're talking about?

"Who are you tring to please by doing this the handfull of athiests or
the 85 - 91% Christans in this country???"

Aside from your massive amount of typos.. Your state goes against
everything the USA stands for. What you're saying is to give into the
majority and screw over the minority. I'll get right on that Mr.
Hitler. Walmart is taking the religion out of their store because they
(unlike you) are able to keep business away from personal. They are
making their store religiously biased, that way, they can please
everyone. Well, everyone except for the few morons like yourself who
take offense from business who don't want to push their religion onto
others.

All in all, shut up, you're dumb, learn to spell, and don't speak
unless you know what the hell it is you're talking about. Get a damn
life.

CHRIST WAS NEVER IN CHRISTMAS!!!

This is a layered Onion that so DESPAREATLY needs to be peeled. I'm a
Jew that knows "Christ" who is the Messiah NEVER had anything to do
with this so called holiday called "Christmas." Can any of you, that
call yourself Christian find ONE SINGLE scripture in the Bible that
speaks of celebrating "Christmas?" Did James, John, Peter or Paul
erect a tree, hang gold and silver balls on it and look for a man in a
red suit to bring gifts to their children? WAKE UP children of GOD.
The answer is NO! Jesus, (whose Hebrew name is Yeshua)was a Jew and
the men who wrote this Bible(New and Old Testiment) were Jews. Jesus
(Yeshua) and his Disciples kept all of God's "Holy Days" (where we get
the term "holiday") and Christmas was most certainly NOT one of them.
REMEMBER, Jesus (Yeshua) lived during a time where the Roman Empire
ruled and had dozens of FALSE gods. December 25th was the day that
their Sun God, Tammuz was born. At the brink of civil war between the
Jews who believed in The Messiah and Pegan sun god worshippers, the
then Roman Emperor Constantine, made a brilliant political move to
STOP the tension. He weaved traits of pegan sun-god worship into
traits of Jewish worship and Christianity as we know it today was
born. Constantine put to death anyone who would NOT follow this new
religion which included celebrating the birth of Jesus on December
25th and worshipping on Sunday instead of on the Sabbath.

I challenge you to look up the word "Christmas" on Wikipedia or in a
dictionary or encyclopedia. While you are at it look up the words
"Easter," "Tammuz" and "Sun god". And if you seriously want to know
God's truth's forget about WHAT YOU WERE TOLD, pray and ask The God of
Abraham, Issaac and Jacob in the name of Jesus (Yeshua) to show you
his truths, then read your Bible FOR YOURSELF, both the New Testament
AND OLD!!! Then be prepared for what the HOLY SPIRIT will reveal to
you. (email me and let me know what happens bireed99@hotmail.com)
SHALOM!!

first off christians are not the only extremist out in the world, go
take your silly sayings, and hippocritical books, and compare them to
everyone else, you're all the same. get along with the fact that they
feel that way too, This post is comming form your mouth , like a
deffense, like christianity is being shat on, bullarky. those people
want to work xmas day, heck they are making time and a half or 2x
their pay per hour. like they dont want to work? and im sure a
majority of the people working that day were volunteered employes who
didn't have jack to do for xmas anyway. So insted of boycotting a
wal-mart, or putting down groups of people for their beliefes , cuddle
up in your pew and read your books, they say to be a totaly opposite
person than the way you made yourself appear in this post. Please
enjoy your hippocritical style of life. oh and go to the governemts
website, search for inside job, you wont get any results either.

I will skip going over the fact that there are a multitude of holidays
over this time of the year, hence the phrase "Happy Holidays" or
"Season's Greetings" is far more appropriate.

So, since 91% (where did you get that figure) of the population is
Christian, screw the rest of the population and their feelings? Sorry,
leave politics out of religion. You don't get to have a majority rule
when it comes to ethics, morals, and values.

You're a very ethno-centric person who I hope to God, if there is a
hell, I'll be glad to go there because God will save your sorry ass
rather than mine.

"I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No man comes to the Father
except by me." - Jesus Christ

If He had come to please everyone, He probably would have said "Do
whatever you want in life and you'll still make it to Heaven. God
doesn't give a damn anyways!"

But Jesus didn't say that. What He said, in simpler terms is, "Chosing
against Me is going to get you Hell."

People don't like hearing that because it's not "feel good" religion
where everyone makes it to whatever the afterlife is no matter what
they believe.

I know my life changed forever when Wal-Mart rescinded.

I'm just annoyed by the stupid people who replied to this earlier that
didn't bother to look and see that this was posted before Christmas,
it just so happened to be put back on the top 20 for whatever reason.

why are so many people posting about saying merry christmas after
christmas? should we also say happy new year in july?

Walmart, Target and other places of worship throughout North America
did not appease the Almighty with "Merry Christmas" and look what
happens. He has foresaken us all. The US AND the Canadian men's ice
hockey teams have fallen at the Olympic games.

Smite us no more. We shall forever buy our tube socks at holy places
that utter "Merry Christmas" instead of "Happy Holidays".

Freakin' Christians anyway.

Dear Wal-Mart,

Today is February 10 and I just got back from your store. When I
walked in, no one said "Merry Christmas" to me. Not the greeter. Not
the cashier.

This bothered me so much, because my faith in Jesus Christ needs to
renewed each and every day by having Wal-Mart employees say "Merry
Christmas" to me.

So, I went to the manager and said "Merry Christmas" to him. He said
"uh, yeah... thanks..." Sounds like he's some sort of atheist
Christ-hater, because he didn't say "Merry Christmas" back to me. Or
maybe he's in league with Satan himself, since any good American would
know that Jesus Christ is our Lord and that saying "Merry Christmas"
is REQUIRED at least 10 times per day, every single day. Or else God
is going to send a plague on all us.

When Osama sends us another attack, you know who will be to blame?
Wal-Mart. Because God is upset that that their employees don't say
"Merry Christmas." It will be all your fault when that dirty bomb
comes.

You have taken the Christ out of my life. I must demand that you
require every employee to seek me out and to say "Merry Christmas" to
me when I'm in your store.

Thank you my Lord, Jesus Christ, for allowing dying for my sins and
dying so that I could my gallon jugs of grape High-C at discount
prices. Please do not send your wrath because Wal-Mart wants to
destroy Christianity and to estinguish you from our lives.

Amen.

You know, I seriously doubt that if Christ were here today that he
would be terribly concerned about the verbiage that corporations
employ in their seasonal promotions. As I recall, he seemed to be
more concerned with the meek and the poor during his days on earth.

I can say that as a corporate citizen, despite its many other
shortcomings, Wal-Mart does strongly support community programs and
charitable donation. I guess as an alternative you could shop at
Target, where Salvation Army bell-ringers have been banned during the
holiday season.

Hmmm... maybe you should consider the company's actions in this
regard, instead of its words???

Whats with all the "YALLS"? Are they on sale or something? I thought
you were shopping at Wal-Mart, not "YALL" Mart.Please learn how to
spell before you write a long-winded letter like this again. My
temples are throbbing with tremendous pain. Thanks.

Grow up and get a life. I'm a Christian, and it doesn't bother me if
a store says "Happy Holidays." I don't expect the world to cater to
my religious beleifs and holiday traditions. Celebrating them at
church and at home with my family and friends is good enough for me,
the rest of society can celebrate or not celebrate whatever it wants.

If Wal-Mart's advertising is enough to undermine your faith, it must
not be very strong in the first place.
I wish my biggest problem in the world was that stores didn't cater to
my religious affiliation, but I have actual problems to deal with.
Speaking of which, instead of wasting time and energy worrying about
Wal-Mart offending you, you should think about putting some effort
into your spelling, grammar and nettiquite. Personally, I find your
lack of them to be much more offensive than Wal-Mart's advertising.
It's people like you who are trying to ruin our country by turning it
into a facist theocracy.

I am sure God will judge the ones who are going this for he always
does!!


The bible says judge and you will be judged and vengance is mine.
Does it really matter what wal mart does. It is a company and has to
be fair by all, this is the world that over sensitive complain
about everything people have created. People like you so live with
it.

And you,dear,have taken the grammar out of English.

Oh get a life. If you don't like it don't shop there. Other people
have a right not to be subjected to your Christian consumer fascism.

Your letter to Walmart has zero credibility. Your spelling is
horrible, writing is poor, and this type of letter will not get a
response. Do you have a spell checker? If not, get one. You can't
expect the stores to take you seriously when you wirte this poorly.

Seeing as how only 26% of the population even attends church regularly
I doubt the majority will be offended.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS, MARI PSYCHOPATH

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

I'll admit I am not a Walmart fan. I do not agree with some of their
business practices. However, I can understand Walmart's decision.
They do not want to be sued any more than anybody else does, nor do
they want to alienate a segment of their customers by being viewed as
Christianity lovers.

I don't think Walmart would argue that they have the right to wish
their customers a merry Christmas. People have a right to wish good
upon others. The problem is, Walmart, as is the case with every
business, is out to make money. And, if too many of their customers
disagree with their practice of wishing everyone a merry Christmas,
then sooner or later they will feel that objection in their profits.


Everyone in this country enjoys the freedom of choice when it comes to
what store people want to get their stuff from. If everyone objects
to being wished a merry Christmas, then they have every right to go
shop someplace else. That is Walmart's first dilemma. They could
lose business by continuing to wish a merry Christmas to everyone.

Walmart's second dilemma lies in people's decision to sue rather than
exercise their right to shop somewhere else. People get so uptight
about their rights being infringed upon that they seem to forget that
other people have those same rights. Walmart has the right to wish
people a merry Christmas just as much as anyone else has the right to
wish people a happy holiday.

As a Christian myself, I don't look at someone wishing me a happy
Hanukah or a happy Kwanza or some other religious greeting as
something to be offended by. I see them trying to be nice to me, and
I'm glad that they make the offering. Not everybody has that same
point of view though, and that is the most tragic part about all of
this. Instead of this saying being viewed as a kind gesture, it has
now become some kind of personal attack on one's religion.

My thoughts on a compromise for Walmart might be to wish everyone well
during every religion's holiday. This way hopefully no one should
be offended for being left out and no one should be able to claim that
Walmart is trying to promote any one religion.

Regarding Walmart's current policy, I don't think generalizing and
wishing everyone a "Happy Holiday" is a long term solution. As is
evident by the comments here on this website, there are already others
who have been offended by this new saying.

They are only trying to be politically correct to make all ethnics
happy. And it takes a lot to do that. I may not agree with it but I
comend them for at least trying.

I'm so glad to hear that Christians are making an issue out of this
and taking a real stand on something so important. Saying Happy
Holidays instead of Merry Christmas is a crucial issue, especially
when compared to stupid, petty issues like Wal-Mart's human rights
violations:

In September 2005, the International Labor Rights Fund filed a lawsuit
on behalf of Wal-Mart supplier sweatshop workers in China, Indonesia,
Bangladesh, Nicaragua and Swaziland. The workers were denied minimum
wages, forced to work overtime without compensation, and were denied
legally mandated health care. Other worker rights violations that have
been found in foreign factories that produce goods for Wal-Mart
include locked bathrooms, starvation wages, pregnancy tests, denial of
access to health care, and workers being fired and blacklisted if they
try to defend their rights.--http://www.globalexchange.org

And the dumbing down of America continues on...

Umm, Yalls? Do you seriously think that is a word in the English (or
any other) language? How do you "spead a cent"? Tring? And what is
with the CAPS/lower case mix; this reads like a ransom note.

There really needs to be some kind of standardized testing before
people are allowed to purchase a computer.

I seriously cannot believe that we are still discussing this idiotic
letter! Mari H, and all the other letter writers who submitted poorly
spelled, grammatically questionable, and oddly capitalized letters to
Wal-Mart and other major retailers this HOLIDAY season are ignorant
and unsophisticated zealots. They would rather hide behind a Bible
than read it, and we can never make them see what is wrong with their
tiny little world-views. When I first came across these letters on
this site, I was, like most of the thinking members, horrified, and
wanted to point out the obvious problems with this totally stupid
viewpoint. But now I'm just bored. And by the way, I hope everyone
on planetfeedback.com had a wonderful Yule Soltice, Mari included.
Goddess bless!

They do not allow regelion in schools. That is for similar reasons at
Walmart.

as far as i saw our cashiers at our walmart said Merry Christmas to
people and people got insulted so dont blame walmart they have to
avoid lawsuits from people that want things politically correct.

Hmmm, I have an idea. All the Christians that are worried about this
need to quit their jobs, stay home, pray and fast until it all goes
away.
Within a few weeks we wouldn't have this problem!... Issue resolved.

Actually, Christians have taken the Christ out of Christianity.

And Sam Walton was probably not the saint he's made out to be.

Why do you list all the family surnames? Based on your writing style,
you seem to come from the sticks of Arkansas (or the hills of
Kentucky), and therefore are inbred anyway.

Actually, Christians have taken the Christ out of Christianity.

And Sam Walton was probably not the saint he's made out to be.

Why do you list all the family surnames? Based on your writing style,
you seem to come from the sticks of Arkansas (or the hills of
Kentucky), and therefore are inbred anyway.

Dude:

PLEASE!

CHILL!

Take a DEEP breath...

It's OKAY...

I was in a San Leandro CA WAL-MART in mid-December and EVERY greeter
and checkout person said "Merry Christmas!" (uch to my surprise, I
must say!)

My question to you is:

If your GOD and CHRIST is as almighty, loving and forgiving as you
claim, do you REALLY THINK HE CARES if us "mere mortals": say "Merry
Christmads" or not?!

I DON'T THINK SO!

Get you priorities, straight, okay?!

peace,

billyjinsa

;-)

Are you sure you spelled Christmas correctly when searching the
Wal-Mart site?! Think before you bitch. Spell check, get it at a
Wal-Mart near you today.

Mari H. I sure hope that you had Happy Holidays. I also wish you
Happy Holidays for the 2006 and 2007 season. I may have forgot to
mention this but have a Happy Holiday every year. Did I mention have
a Happy Holiday.

Here is a good site for everyone with aggrivation over this post:
http://members.cox.net/kyosei

enjoy!
ja

why should Christ be in a public holiday. It;s not religious is it?
Anymore?

Okay, Christmas is over now, but I still need to say something about
all this. I was taught in history class that the early settlers
immigrated to America to escape religious persecution and to be able
to practice their personal religion freely, hence the Freedom of
Religion ammendment. Instead it seems that Christians came here to
escape persecution so that they could persecute everyone else who
didn't believe in THEIR religion.

Screw all this "America was built on Christianity" bullshit. It was
built on the right to practice your religion without persecution.

Today's Christians need to turn off Pat Robertson and Bill O'Reilly
and start practicing things like morals and ethics like you're
supposed to be doing. While you're busy complaining about Wal-Mart,
you could be helping those less fortunate. Did that ever once cross
your mind? Isn't that what Christmas is about? Spreading love and
joy, not hate and a "war on Christmas".

Out of the thousands of issues that plague America today, this is the
best you can do? Bitch about someone saying Happy Holidays to you?

Here's another thing you didn't know: There is no war on Christmas.
No one started one, except Christians (kind of like one of those
so-called "counter-terrorism" ideas--get them before they get you.)
You have put yourself on the defense and are acting like victims when
no one is attacking you.

So who really took the Christ out of Christmas? Here's a hint: It
wasn't Wal-Mart, it was Christians themselves.

Happy Hannakuh to everyone!

You do know that America is comprised of several different religions,
of which three major ones celebrate during the winter solstice, don't
you?

Hannakah fell on December 25th this year, but you don't hear Walmart
saying "Happy Hannakah"; and you don't hear Jewish people throwing
hissy fits.

People like you are ignorant and non-compassionate to your fellow
citizens.

BTW, I'm catholic.

I agree if people feel discrimanatid against CHRISTmas then maybe they
shouldnt look at the sign or listen to the employees

I move to take this poster off the website...it's getting really old.

There are two very important issues represented in your letter to
Wal-Mart, both having a prominent place in our new lately. The first
is the supposed persecution of Christian in our country and the second
is the demonetization of the retailer Wal-Mart. It would seem that
the first issue is on your mind as you have used the second to vent
your frustration on a retailer who has taken quite a few attacks in
recent years for doing nothing more or than other large retailers must
do to stay in business these days. I would like to keep my comments
regulated to the Wal-Mart issue.

You state, "I am VERY VERY UPSET as well as thousands of folks at the
idea that WAL-MART is not using the words MERRY CHRISTMAS this year!!!
That is POOR on yalls part!!"

Wal-Mart, among many other large retailers have found themselves
serving such an incredible number of people across this incredibly
large nation. If they were to express personal greetings to all who
shop there, even more issues would arise. Some would be left out,
others would feel that their greeting should take precedence, and some
would like to have no religious greetings at all. We forget that the
time of the winter solstice holds great religious significance to a
vast majority of populations throughout the world and the United
States is no exception. There are so many religious holidays at the
end of December that I couldn't list them and may not know all of
them. Wal-Mart is in the business of retail sales and they must see
all of their visitors as customers first and do the best they can to
accommodate all at the most personal level as practically possible.

You also state, "PUT CHRIST BACK IN CHRISTMAS!!! WHEN YOU DO A SEARCH
ON THE Wal-MArt Website and you type in Christmas there is NOTHING BUT
YET IT COMES UP WITH ALL THE RELIGONS THAT HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH
CHRISTMAS!!"

This interested me a bit as I am an undocumented authority on
web-surfing. I did the search you mentioned as well as others and
came up with some figures that may show Wal-Mart to be the best friend
a Christian can have in the retail world.

First, I searched for Christmas and the other two large holiday
celebrations:
Christmas yielded 7851 results. Hanukkah had 203, and Kwanzaa only
got 77 hits. These figures hardly support Wal-Mart's ignorance of the
needs of Christians. In fact, it may show a bit of insensitivity to
the groups that we haven't been hearing from lately.

Just for interests' sake, I searched the Wal-Mart site for the five
living religions of the world:

The Hindus were last with only 234 hits, preceded only slightly by the
Buddhists with 611. Islam took third place with 956 hits. The Jews
are running in second with 3018 hits but nowhere near the number one
religion in our search. Christianity took a staggering lead with
80,490 hits. This is hardly going to support any arguments that the
Christians aren't getting a fair shake in Wal-Mart.

I will touch on the issue of persecution of the Christians just once
with another quote from your letter. You stated, "I saw this on the
News last night and was shocked!!" The idea of institutionalized
persecution of we Christians is a notion brought on by the media be
they left, right, or center. It may help to go into the market place
with you faith in your heart and get to know all you meet on your own
terms rather than the reports of a few talking heads trying to sell
soap on the television.

I am glad to hear that in this economy you and your friends have the
money to shop at higher priced retailers. You said, "Myself, and the
HArrigil famlies, Thomas's, Green', MArtin,s and Whiteheads will NOT
SPEAD A CENT IN ANY WAL-MART ANY WHERE!!" For my friends and me, we
still have to find the best value in town without worrying about who
may be questioning our faith.

I hope you had a happy holiday and I wish you "Happy Holidays" for
many prosperous years to come.

I wanted to thank MSBIBA in the following post below. It is evident
you are a TRUE Christian. God Bless you for what you said here. It
was inspiring. It's too bad most people don't understand the point.
They rather argue the point that they are right and everyone else is
wrong.
I try to remember, God made us all in his image, yet all very
different. I say, Celebrate Diversity and appreciate what makes us
different. If God wanted us all Christian he would have made us that
way. He didn't. He made us all different colors and with different
cultures and races. This expression of his awesome diversity is
throughout nature. We need to all learn to stop hating each other for
our differences and learn how rich our cultures and races are. We are
all different by design.
On a side note, if you haven't seen Yanni's Tribute DVD, you have to
see it, make sure you watch the making of the DVD. It is amazing.
Yanni gets it... Too bad so many of us don't.
Thank you Msbiba!
JA

Don't be a Christian who is never satified; we Christians don't have
it so bad. Everything is closed for Christmas, not Hanukkah or
Kwanzaa. Even though we say Happy Holidays, it is apparent that
Christmas is still the main focus of the holiday season. The world
does need to acknowledge different points of view, not just ours.
Everyone does not believe what I believe and that is fine and we
should respect that. If you were so focused on Christ and his
teachings, then you would realize that Christmas is not about spending
money at all. Wal-Mart is a retailer, not a place of worship, so you
shouldn't expect them to validate your need to focus on promoting
materialism in the name of the Lord.

In my company you can not say this either to anyone for any reason.
Do not blame Wal Mart if you feel this way. There are many other
contributing factors and Wal Mart is simply not one of them (although
I do love to hate them).

Just FYI... My local Wal-Mart did use Merry Christmas every time I
went there. They even had a Merry Christmas banner in front of the
store.

Oui Vey!

Let's all keep it simple. Celebrate your religion in your churches,
temples, etc.

When you walk out the door, remember what you are part of...

Just celebrate LIFE.

Stop hating over the differences, and start appreciating the
differences. Celebrate Diversity.

God made us all different for a reason. Celebrate it!

With Utmost Respect to all!
JA

Ok, when writing a complaint letter & hoping to get some resolution
its always a good idea to have a good grip on proper grammar. Just the
subject title is ridiculous. Wal-mart has TOOK ?!?!?!?! WTH ? The word
that should have been used here is TAKEN ! If its one thing I can't
stand is when people don't pay attention to things of this nature &
then expect to be taken seriously. Come on.

AS you can see in the strings below and above, we have good people,
biggots, bible thumpers, holly rollers, common sense people, and
complete nut cases.
I guess that is what the first amendment is all about. I guess that is
what America is all about.

It puts the Major Corporations in the middle. It is all a personal
preference. If Walmart wants to try to be kind to everyone then so be
it. They have my respect and the worlds respect for it.

Those that are upset about this, need to look at who was elected as
President. They were also respectful this year and decided to embrace
all religions and cultures with "Happy Holidays"... It amazed me that
the White House acted like a true leader of the people, rather than
just one of the popular vote.

Just because Christians are the majority doesn't mean they are all
that matter in the world. Too many think they do, and those are the
ones that will burn for it when its time to leave this world.

Wake up people, stop hating each other. Learn to care and love each
other a little more. It just takes a little respect and compassion.
Isn't that what Jesus taught?

I was born a Jew, but became a Christian by choice. Sometimes I
wonder if any religion is a good religion. The world is so filled
with hate, and we allow words to set us apart. It take 3000 people to
die horrible deaths to bring us together, then that was only for a
short time. What is wrong with society today? I think we have all
lost sight of the big picture in the world.

With respect,
JA

MERRY CHRISTMAS! Oh crap.....I said it. Oh no the world is going to
end!! All hell is about to break loose because I uttered those two
horrific words that have been said for thousands of years, Merry
Christmas. Oh my God I just said it again....what is going to
happen?.....I know, didly s h i t. Wake up here people. If you had an
ounce of common sense you would shut your mouths and leave well enough
alone. Saying Merry Christmas (there I go again) hasnt mattered for
the past two thousand years so why should it matter now. If you opened
you damn eyes you would have noticed that all this "politically
correct" crap is some new fad thats seems to be all the rave this
year. Get over yourselves. You are all a bunch of whining little two
year olds that always have to complain about something."Eww the war in
Iraq, we shouldnt be over there, eww president bush sucks, eww gays
should be married, and now eww merry christmas is not politically
correct. Heres the facts: The war is just, kerry lost, fags suck, and
the only holiday is Christmas. So I leave you with this. GET OVER
YOURSELVES.


Ps: Merry Christmas

Whats the saddest about this letter and that the majority of responses
to it were written on Christmas Day.

All,

I would like to thank Wal-Mart for taking such a respectful and
honorable action. Too often (some) Christians forget we live in a
country where we have religious freedom, not to mention many different
cultures, religions, and races. Saying "Happy Holidays" is the most
respectful thing anyone can say if they are not certain what religion
the person they are addressing is.

I feel badly for those that are making a stink out of this whole
situation. It's time that we all start respecting each other and
rather than judging each other for being different start celebrating
what similarities we have and seeking to understand and respect what
differences we have. It is what makes the American culture the most
admired in the world and the corporate philosophy that has made
Wal-Mart the number one company in the world.

I admire them for doing the right thing and respecting everyone. Not
just those that feel they are the only ones that matter.

Merry Christmas to those that are Christian, Happy Hanukah to those of
the Jewish faith, Happy Kwanzaa to those of African heritage, Happy
Ramadan to those that are Muslim and Happy Holidays to everyone.

It is time we stop hating each other and start acting like true
Christians and really love and care about each other...

Sincerely,
Brad

My New Year wish for the Whiteheads (such an unfortunate name), the
"HArrigils" (what kind of spelling is that?), the "Thomas's", the
"Green", and the "MArtin,s" is that they will be able to find a much
better spokesperson than the author of this unintelligent rant to
voice their uneducated opinions. This person cannot even write
properly (has TOOK??), let alone spell or type properly. It must have
been a very dismal holiday this year for these bumpkins, what with not
being able to shop at their favorite discount chain -- I wonder what
they put under their trees (which were probably hung upside down;
tacky) this year? Marbles to hold in their mouths, perhaps?

Listen up, MORONS -- CHRIST was NOT born on December 25th. Research
it. Those of us that understand this, and know the historical facts
concerning your bigotted cult's hijacking of the YULE festival and
turning it into a celebration of your hateful so-called 'deity' are
OFFENDED you keep insisting there's some kind of "WAR" on Christmas.
All we're asking is for you to respect our differences. We're not
asking you to stop calling your festival 'Christmas.'

BUT NO -- you must have it all your way!! Your dogma does not allow
for ANY deviations from it -- you must be seen as the ONLY truth out
there, and this, children, is why you all feel compelled to RUN the
rest of our lives, to CONTROL every aspect of society until everyone
looks, thinks, and behaves like YOU.

YOU are the people that make me sick, that give decent religious folks
a bad name. YOU are the people who are the plague on society. I weep
for the future of our race in light of what you idiots are trying to
do to it.

Let me first and foremost say that I am a Christian...I accepted
Christ when I was eight years old. The problem people have with us is
similar to the problem people have with southerners. Think of it this
way...when you see someone from Tennessee (like myself) on the news,
it's usually someone with no teeth wearing no shoes and a moo-moo
talking about how the tornado destroyed their trailer and their 5
broken down vehicles. It's the same way with Christians. Most
non-Christians only come into contact with the Bible-beating, hellfire
and brimstone, judgemental extremists. For all the non-Christians,
please don't ignore our message of salvation through Jesus Christ
because of people like this woman. We are not all like that. For all
the Christians, we are called to love, serve, and lead people to
Christ. If something offends you, like taking the Christ out of
Christmas, use it as a witnessing opportunity rather than an
opportunity to make a fool out of yourself and give a bad name to the
Christians that are trying to truly live like Christ did.

Uhhh....ok.

Christmas is over now. What WILL you complain about now?

Now that Christmas is over can Maris 15 minutes of fame PLEASE be
over? This letter spent much more time in the lime light then it
should have. Havent we learned yet NOT to feed the animals?

What amazes me is the MASS amount of "Christians" who really think
that God, Jesus, Christ and so on are so weak and ignorant that
Walmart, Target, ect. can remove them from life as we know it. LOL!

I work for Walmart and there was never any direction from the
corporate office to do this, our store went out of our way to say
Merry Christmas to prove that this story was false. Someone began
spreading this false rumor around early in the season and it really
took off, but it is absolutely not true.

I am with you 100%. I am sick and tired of these companies taking
Christ out of Christmas to please other people who some are not even
Americans!! Walmart, America was built on Christanity and you and
others better either get used to it or get out. We are boycotting
Walmart untill they put Christ back in Christmas!! There are plenty of
other stores besides Walmart and Walmart is getting to big for their
own britches!!

Makes me wonder if the writer was one of those folks a few years ago
who was screaming about the rampant commercialization of a religious
holiday.

Folks, you can't have it both ways. Either you let the marketplace
promote the living daylights out of Christmas (and thus deal with
whatever spin they want to put on it), or you let them recognize that
not everyone sees December 25th as a religious celebration.

Guys -

Christmas is a Christian Holiday. To take Christ out of Christmas is
wrong. If we water down Christmas just to be "inclusive", and everyone
expects we should, why not step on everyone else's religion as well?
Christians are constantly asked to be more tolerant - but is Islam
tolerant? Does Chanukah have a place for Christians? Of course not!
Everyone's religion is exclusive - not inclusive!

People are upset because a traditionally Christian Holiday is being
de-christianized. If Christians attempted to do the same to anyone
else's holiday or holy day - we'd pay a price.

One last note - Christians are not isolating themselves - others are
isolating Christians. Anyone else who stands up for what they believe
is applauded. Yet, when a Christian becomes passionate about what they
believe - they are called bigots and intolerant in-breeders.

Some of us are NOT afraid - nor will we back down from our belief in
Jesus. If my Merry Christmas greeting offends you - then be offended!
Grow up. Some things in life may offend you. "Merry Christmas" offends
you - but "Happy Chanukah" or a direct reference to a different
religion does not offend you - then who is being intolerant?

Your labels don't scare us. Why don't you label other fundamentalist
groups? You say we should understand them - why don't you ever try to
understand Christians? Respect and equality - norms you espouse -
dictate that you should respect all equally.

Merry Christmas!

Christians know that December 25 is not the day Jesus was born. It is
the day we choose to celebrate His birth. I admit that even Christians
have put presents first, but it is time to get back to the reason we
chose to celebrate His birth. If Jesus had not been born, there would
not be many people in Heaven. He is the reason Christians and most
other people celebrate Christmas. Duh, it is Christ Mas. Xmas is not
Christmas. The few have taken Him out of the Courthouse, the few have
taken Him out of our schools. Keep going. You get to spend eternity
without Him, while those of us who put our faith in Him will spend
eternity with Him. Turn your back on Him now and He will turn His back
on you when you die. You will remember reading this while you are
burning and wish that you had been smart enough to talk to God and ask
Him to prove Himself to you with a sincere heart. If you seek, you
will find, if you ask, you will recieve, if you knock the door will be
opened. Christmas is a day we choose to honor the birth of Christ. If
you don't agree, then don't participate. He gave us all that He had
and all that He was. He became like us filthy people so that He could
restore us to God.

How many typos can a single person make?
Let me count the ways! Do pray your god gifts you with some intellect
AND more tolerance towards fellow human beings.

Hey YOU! Just wanting to write in to let you know that your letter
commenting on WAL-Marts policy on the "Holidays" was the most ignorsnt
piece of garbage I have ever laid eyes on. First things first:
1.) Invest in spell check.
2.) Invest in some form of grammatical error correction program.
3.) Not everyone in the U.S. is a Christian. (You MUST be from the
buckle).
4.) If I were of Jewish decent I might take offense (where's the
"Happy Hannakah" greeting?).
Last but NOT least...Get over yourself; "turn away from the cave and
into the light."
and P.S.
Don't judge,the BIBLE says it is not YOUR place. So since that is the
doctrine you SAY you go by, I'd take heed.

WWJS? ("Where Would Jesus Shop?")

One: Not all non-Christians are atheists.

Two: The origin (I've heard) of the word "Holiday" is "Holy-day." So
wishing someone "Happy Holidays" is therefore wishing them "Happy Holy
Days."

Three: Commentators, please don't tell the "War Against Christmas"
folks about the origin of the Christmas celebration coming from the
Pagan winter solstice festivities - this might cause their heads to
explode!

Four: The purpose of the "War Against Christmas" story is to distract
Americans from the news of U.S. soldiers dying in Iraq and the
Republican congressmen being indicted for corruption. Those 24-hour
news channels have to talk about something ...

Five: The purpose of wishing people "Happy Holidays" is to be
INCLUSIVE - spreading cheer to anyone who shops this time of year. I
suspect that most Jewish people are not offended when they're wished a
"Merry Christmas," though I also suspect that this author would be
even more offended at being told "Happy Hanukkah" than hearing "Happy
Holidays."

Six: People (commentators) shouldn't be so quick to tell others that
they'll be burning in Hell. Some people a really good at judging
others, though I've read someplace (in their Holy Book, perhaps?) that
judging us is God's job - NOT ours.

I don't believe Jesus would want to shop with intolerant folks like
this author. I also believe He'd appreciate any polite and sincere
holiday greeting.

Oh, heavens, there's a War on Christmas! Bill "Luffa Makes Me Happy"
O'Reilly says so!

You folks are NUTS. Here are people trying to be friendly and greet
EVERYONE and you have to take the selfish viewpoint.

What is it with Christians that they feel the need to act like whiney
martyrs?

Just what is Mari implying here? That the values of giant
corporations are inconsistent with the teachings of Jesus? How could
that be? The Republican party hosts the most church-goers, but they
also fight for legislation friendly to big business. Have Christians
really been duped all these years? Have they been voting for the
wrong candidates? Is it possible that Jesus might want us to do
something with our lives other than acquire money and material goods?

1st-You are a pompous jackass with no strength as a Christian. Is
walmart that strong that it can shake your religious faith? Since when
did you give over your power to the almughty Wal0mart, you boob.

2nd-I am from the South and you are an embarassing stereotype. Please
learn to write and not talk.

3rd-I am a pagan and don't crap myself everytime someone says god
bless you. I don't let other people shake my religious faith. So, in
essence, I am more a person of faith than you. How you like them
apples?

4th-I believe each person is entitled to practice whatever they want
(spiritually) even you...

5th-you should not be allowed to procreate or operate heavy machinery.


The end...

Attention all athiest! she was'nt "pushing her beliefs"off on anyone,
and i for one agree with her, you will all find out in the end, when
you are all burning in hell, you'll be wishing you would'[nt have been
so narrow minded yourselves!!!!!!!!!!!!

"Have a good day" works fine for me.

I'm a Christian, and I don't observe Xmas because for one thing it's
not Christ's birthday, and for another it's actually Saturnalia--an
old pagan festival.

Christ doesn't even belong in Xmas to begin with. Saturnalia was/is a
time of debauchery and partying--activities you see to this very day!
(Except they didn't copy their behinds on the photocopier back then!)

If God wanted us to celebrate Jesus' birthday, He would have told us
to--and given the date. Funny thing is, if God had made such a
command, hardly anyone would do it!

The fact that Xmas is so popular should be sounding the alarm in any
Christian's head. If the world loves it, you might want to
investigate it further!

I have been observing all of the debate over Christmas and frankly, I
don't understand it. When I either go into or leave a store, I don't
care if someone says "Merry Christmas", "Happy Holidays", or "Kiss my
ass", just as long as I can get in and get out with what I went in to
buy and not kill anyone in the process.

Jesus wasn't even born in the month of December, it is figured to be
early spring, but no one knows for sure.

When Christmas is over then what is everyone going to complain about
then.

First of all WalMart nor anyone else can "took Christ" out of
Christmas!! Christians such as you are small minded not to mention
narrow minded!! You are also very scary to say the least! People
such as yourselves are selfish and very anti-semtic and have no
realization what goes on in the world, only in your small minded
world. I would get a life if I were you! However, I thank G-d I am
NOT like you or anyone else that is so small minded you cannot see the
forest through the trees.

Learn how to speak well and this may be helpful to you in the future!
P.S. No ONE can take Christ out of any place!!! Only you need to
complain because you don't have enough to do with your life.

Where on earth did you get the idea that 85-91 percent of the
country's population are Christians? This is exactly WHY I do not
subscribe to mainstream religion. Not everyone in this country
celebrates the Merry Yule the same way you do, so don't push your
belief system on the rest of us.

If you want to get really anal about it, you 'Christians' stole this
country from the Native Americans and brainwashed us into subscribing
to your beliefs.

We don't see Native American holiday decor and accessories in Walmart,
but you sure as heck don't see us complaining about it, now do you?

I would like to challenge Walmart to put this complaint letter in big
bold print and post it in their corporate office as one of the dumbest
complaints ever received. You know, Walmart employs a lot of people
and keeps them off the welfare lines, and the holidays in retail sales
can really put a lot of stress on the employees. They don't need your
added stress.

if we stop shoping at walmart untill they put christ back in christmas
let boy cut them be good i will not shop at walmart anymore

Lets be honest with ourselves Mari, it wasnt Wal-Mart or Target or any
of the retailers that HAVE TAKEN (proper English) Christ out of
Christmas its the Christians. Somewhere along the line people have
made gift getting to be the reason for the season and retailers simply
capitolized on that. If you are truely outraged that Jesus has
dissapeared from Christmas then maybe you should get out there and
spread the word of Christ not your own hate everyone that isnt like me
bullshit.

I have to ask what do you do Mari that keeps Christ in Christmas? I
bet its as much as Wal-Mart does.

You are an idiot.So we should just abandon people like jews?They have
a right to have respect.Let me say this in a language you'll
understand:"Well,tarnation!Not all them peoples in america is
christians!Now then lets ride meh
4-wheeler!YEE-HAH!"Understand,genuis?

Nothing like a letter from a Christian redneck to get Wal-Mart's
attention. I bet they tossed it on account of the fact that it's
written the way most rednecks talk, rather than in common English.

However, Mari has a point. If there was no Christ, December 25th would
just be another day, and there would be no redemption. Urge your local
stores to keep the Christ in Christmas! Who cares if it offends
people. Jesus wasn't born to please the populous!

Nothing like a letter from a Christian redneck to get Wal-Mart's
attention. I bet they tossed it on account of the fact that it's
written the way most rednecks talk, rather than in common English.

However, Mari has a point. If there was no Christ, December 25th would
just be another day, and there would be no redemption. Urge your local
stores to keep the Christ in Christmas! Who cares if it offends
people. Jesus wasn't born to please the populous!

Mari, I AGREE WITH YOU!! Do not listen to this hatful sick people
attacking you for just writing your complaint that THEY do not have to
read to respond too. It is YOUR right to complain and they are jurks
for attacking your CHRISTIAN RIGHTS! Chistian is a time to celebrat
and be happy. These folks run business's ect and I agree if you take
the whole buying of gifts and celebration away then it only hurts them
business and they will be crying that that have to close down for
being broke. Fine lets celebrat Christ at home behind closed doors and
not do the whole gift buying thing. Find so dont cry and want folks to
feel sorry for you company as you CLOSE DOWN due to profits being
down. "MERRY CHRISTMAS MARI" and ba hum bug to the rest!!

BOY read the SICK and HATFUL remarks by un GODLY folks here in these
posts!! Some are claiming to be so called Christians yet say so what.
So what you are saying is you are not Chistians and you do not stand
up for Christ and that you do not witness for Christ! Hmmmm okay lets
take Christmas away. Fine then all the stores are going to be crying
on the news for sales being down and that they are going out of
business. Fine I really do not have a problem with that for I can
celebrate Christ birth at home with on gifts. For it would hurt me, it
will hurt all the COMPANIES pocket books, and it will hurt all the
KIDS in the world you look forward to it.
So if all you folks posting have a problem with my post - SOOOOOOOO
WHAT - It would be be who stands before Jesus when I die all worried
and scared of burning in HELL it will be you. God Bless and MERRY
CHRISTmas

Okay don't get me wrong I am the one who will be saying Merry
Christmas to people ,but wait. You must understand something Mari. If
Wally World says Merry Christmas then the Jewish community will get
upset. If Target says Happy Holidays then The Chistians get upset. The
way I see it the company is screwed no matter which way they go.
Soooo. Just sit back relax and think about what the season is all
about. Christ, love ,family and friends. You know this. The Jewish
community will relax and think about what this time of year means to
them. Just calm down and try to get along with everyone! Everybody
wants their voice to be heard and thats fine. Just be nice Mari.
Remember you did say you were a Christian. :) OH Merry Christmas

You are completely ignorant and devoid of respect for other people.
How selfish of you.
You are what we call an "entitlement bitch".
YOU, the ONE ANGRY CUSTOMER in a thousand or more, decide that people
in the
service industry should be able to read your mind and know whether you
are
Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Pagan, whatever...and that makes you
right?
No.
Go get an education.

The whole anti-"Happy Holidays" movement is stupid. Get over
yourselves.

Christians have that whole "What would Jesus do?" question they ask
themselves
in rough situations, and I bet Jesus wouldn't flip out over
semantics.
If someone is wishing you a nice day, a good time with family during
the coming
weeks, then for Pete's sake, just smile and say "thank you," you
ungrateful
swine.

And for the record, Christmas is set on a pagan holiday -- Winter
Solstice. :)
Even non-Pagans use the term "Yule" around the Christmas holidays.
Yule is
celebrated on the Winter Solstice (December 22nd), on the shortest day
of the
year. Since the days get longer from this point in the year, Yule is
a
celebration of the returning sun and the rebirth of the God who died
at
Hallowe'en. As with Easter, the Christian story of the birth of Jesus
fits
nicely with the Pagan mythology of a God reborn. Traditions such as
wreaths and
Yule logs are remnants of the original beliefs. Gifts were exchanged
at Yule
long before the Wise Men offered their gifts to the baby Jesus.

"Support bacteria! It's the only culture some people have!"

http://www.walmartfacts.com/newsdesk/article.aspx?id=1527
Clarification on Wal-Mart's Holiday Greeting

There seems to be a growing misperception regarding the use of the
phrase "Merry Christmas" at Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart would like to clarify
that it has no policy that prohibits an associate from wishing
customers "Merry Christmas."

According to Sarah Clark, Wal-Mart spokesperson, "We encourage
associates to use their best judgment when greeting our customers and
to assess which greeting or greetings best suit the customers and
associates in their local store. We want our stores to reflect the
communities they serve. If 'Merry Christmas' is the preferred
greeting, that is fine and appropriate. Or, some associates may
choose to say 'Happy Holidays,' which may be more inclusive for Happy
Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa, Happy Three Kings' Day, Merry Christmas and
Happy New Year."

In regards to advertising, Wal-Mart's theme this season is "Home for
the Holidays," reflecting the importance of family to our customers
and associates during this special time of year, regardless of
individual faiths. Wal-Mart features a large selection of Christmas
merchandise in our stores and online, recognizing that a broad segment
of our customer base wants to buy Christmas trees, cards, and Nativity
items in celebration of the Christmas holiday. Many items used in
celebration of Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Three Kings' Day and other
observances this time of year are also available.

I am a cashier at my local Wal-mart. I have been with the company for
3 year and I have never been told I can't say Merry Christmas. My
father is a people greeter, he's been with the company 8 years and
never been told he can't say Merry Christmas.
Infact Christmas is a paid holiday and Wal-mart is not open on
Christmas so there employees can spend it with there familys
I am a Christian I wear an I Love Jesus pin on my smock and this has
never been a problem.
In my Wal-mart there is a sign that say XX shopping days until
Christmas, and they play Christmas music over the speakers from
Wal-mart radio.If you do a search on Walmart.com you will get over
9000 items for Christmas.
And if a cashier does not tell you Merry Christmas maybe it's because
you are not displaying a good holiday spirit....

Would you be this offended if a friend or family member sent you a
card that said "Happy Holidays" or "Season's Greetings" instead of
"Merry Christmas"?
Would you tear the card up and send it back? Would you refuse to speak
to them ever again? Probably not. So why get so upset over what
greeting you get when
you are in the store?

CAN I JUST ASK WHAT ITEM DID YOU WANT FROM WAL-MART THAT SYMBOLIZED
CHRIST? WAS IT THE FLASHING LIGHTS, WRAPPING PAPER, TOYS OR THE
CHRISTmas THONG THAT PLAYS JINGLEBELLS.

Wow...I'm sure at the bottom of this pile of arguments this won't even
be read.

Anyhoo, all I wanted to say was: What's wrong with Happy Holidays? I
think it's their way of wishing you a Merry Christmas. After all,
that's your holiday. Now, if you were Jewish, you could translate that
into Happy Hanakah. Pagan, happy Winter Solstice!

Happy Holidays just means enjoy your holiday, whatever one it is you
celebrate. So DO that. Enjoy it, and stop fretting.

Wow, this letter certainly did get something going didn't it? It is a
shame though. If in fact, Mari,you are a Christian, wouldn't it be
better to simply pray for those who don't understand the significance
of Christmas? Now that being said, the roots are all pagan and if you
want to read about how it began, you might change your mind about
wanting to celebrate it the way it is set up. This website has some
interesting information regarding Christmas.
http://www.carm.org/questions/christmas.htm And the one person was
right, Jesus was born late summer early fall. When you read the info
on that sight, you'll see why we celebrate now instead of around the
time of His actual birth. The sad thing is that He was not about all
the fighting and arguing. Was there really any reason for most of the
responses to be so harsh to Mari? This does not solve anything, only
separates us even further apart. Not shopping at a store because they
won't say Merry Christmas is bad PR for Christians! And I really don't
think it will hurt them much. We say we are all about love and
forgiveness, yet we can be so hostile and UNforgiving.
This phrase (Happy Holidays) was in INCLUDE everyone so as not to
EXLUDE anyone. Wouldn't that be a Christian thing to do? Include
everyone? So, Peace on Earth Goodwill Toward Men(and Women) And to
everyone a Happy Holiday Season(whatever you celebrate with those you
love)

Is it really a big deal? I am a Catholic that believes that everyone
is entitled to their own actions as long as they are not hate filled.
Come on, is saying "Happy Holidays!" hate filled, or is it a statement
that means that they want you to have a "Happy Holiday"? Get over
yourself and your ridiculous opinion. Be happy that they are
acknowledging and wishing you to have a "Happy Holidays"!

Jesus Hermoine Christ...who the hell cares.

WallMart is a terrible company for so many other reasons than this.
Christ has no place in retail anyway. They dont care if you "spead"
your money there today...because eventually "yall" will have to shop
there, wont you? You have no choice....thats the Wal-Mart business
plan.

Regardless....when writing a letter that you expect people to take
seriously, here are a few hints.

1. If you are truly a devout Christian, learn how to spell it. It
gives your letter more validity when you can write properly.
Otherwise you sound like a bumpkin....oh, sorry.

2. Learn that online shopping has nothing to do with religion. Try
to control your anger over something so minor as WalMart not catering
to "yalls" particular opinions.

3. If your Christ only exists in retail chains ...consider him dead.

Get over it. Forgive WalMart. Ask yourself....What would Jesus do?
You should be more angry that WalMart is open on Christmas and feel
sorry for the poor people who are forced to work on a holiday out of
sheer desperation.

I see nothing unreasonable about wishing someone, "Happy holidays,"
instead of possibly causing unnecessary offense by saying, "Merry
Christmas," to someone who may not even believe in God. I think that
the inclusive greeting shows greater concern for customers of all
faiths.

I don't think that Christ is being taken out of Christmas by those who
say, "Happy holidays," instead of "Merry Christmas." Christ is taken
out of Christmas when we worry about trivialities and focus more on
materialism than on "peace on earth, good will to men."

If this is something important enough to write a letter about, it's
important enough to check your facts about. You are more likely to be
taken seriously if you write a polite, well-informed letter.

"Who are you tring to please by doing this the handfull of athiests or
the 85 - 91% Christans in this country???"
In case you are unaware of it. All people who do not celebrate your
particular holidays are not Atheists. I myself celebrate Christmas
however, I do not force feed my own beliefs on others.

Christ does NOT belong in Xmas, because Xmas is a PAGAN holiday. Open
your Bible and go to Jeremiah 10 and start reading.

The Bible says don't learn the ways of the heathen. Did you know the
Xmas tree predates Christ?

Cain thought he could worship God HIS way--and I think you know what
happened there.

I am a Christian. My husband and I do not observe Xmas. We have no
tree in our home to bow down to, and our son will not be told the
Santa Claus lie.

The early Christians did not observe Xmas either. It was Constantine
who brought that about in the fourth century when he tried to mix
paganism and Christianity.

I know my faith and where my heart is. I know how I was raised and how
I raise
my children. I also know that when someone says Happy
Holidays...Christmas is
included in there.
It doesn't matter what it is these days but no matter what it is,
someone out
there will find fault with it and try to change it.
I do believe we have freedom of speach. So say which ever makes you
happy. A
Christmas tree isn't a Christmas tree until you decorate it. A
Christmas
present isn't a Christmas present until you wrap it and put it under
the tree.
All I am saying, is there are more important things going on in this
world that
need more attention than this.
On that note.. Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Seasons Greetings.
etc, etc.

lets see christmass. .JESUS WAS NOT EVEN BORN IN DECEMEBR IS
PROVEN,,,,christmas was made to convert the pagans into celebrating a
catholic holiday becuase the pope stole YULE so SHUT UP!!!!

Merry Christmas to all those who love our LORD JESUS CHRIST in
sincerity! The very bedrock of our great nation is "The ROCK OF
AGES"... Yes JESUS is the only "Reason for the Season" If we do not
serve HIM now, we will stand in judgement later! For we will ALL,
(every man, women & child from Adam & Eve till now) stand before the
judgement seat of CHRIST to receive our just reward for either
accepting HIM as LORD & Saviour or rejecting HIM! Sam Walton, The
founder of Wal-Mart, was a Christian! If he saw the present stance of
its hirearchy, He would fire them all! Boycott Walmart!


Sincerely,

Mike H
Bakersfield, CA

I'm reading a lot of "well, we have to include the Jews!" in these
replies, and I just want to make it clear. We Jews (all the ones I've
asked anyway -- not an insignificant number) don't really care what
you call your holiday. Most of us don't care what you say to us when
we shop at your store. We don't buy your "holiday" trees anyway, so
call them whatever you want. We're not behind this move to get rid of
Christmas. Hannukah is a very minor holiday anyway -- not even worthy
of a mention in the "Happy Holidays" spirit. So, keep Christmas. We
don't care. Really.

(A word about Kwanzaa. Most people who celebrate Kwanzaa also
celebrate Christmas. They're not antithetical to each other in any
way.)

It is complete and total BS that companies, news, shows, and papers
are doing the same thing by taking the Christ out of Christmas. It
isn't fair. They might was well change our pledeg of Alligence, and
God Bless America, and let's stop using money too. Let's not forget
that our bills do say In God We Trust, Heck yes we do, we trust in God
to stop creating mindless, arragont, ignorant, A**holes. This country
is turning to communism Whether we want to see it or not. So go ahead
and let our country get run by other races, and lets loose what the
pilgrims started.

y'all spellt christmas wrong cause yer brain dead from all them
beatins by yer daddy

After reading a recent news story about how most American "evangelical
Christian" megachurches -- these are the huge, politically influential
churches that attract upwards of ten thousand people at their
servicess -- will be closed this Christmas Sunday because it's just
too inconvenient to actually get people to show up on the day
officially designated to celebrate the birth of their lord and savior,
I'm not inclined to believe a corporation's use of "holidays" instead
of "christmas" is in any way part of the problem here.

I searched the Walmart site...here is what I found:

7935 items found for "christmas"

Does it really bother you that they include other religions? Why does
it matter to you if they congratulate others on the season along with
you? It doesn't change what you believe, it just means that others
enjoy the season as well. Relax.

As a Christian who doesnt believe in religion I havent got one problem
with what
Walmart says to me when I leave their store. Happy holidays is nice!
It covers
everything! No one is left out. Everyone getsto feel included and
important no
matter what their religious or holiday beliefs.

This is really showing how ugly Christians can be. It has to be "our
way or no
way!" That is why I have removed myself from religion on a whole.
Because thats
what this is...religious indignation. It isnt proving anything to
anyone except
that to be a Christian is to be rude, obnoxious, intollerant,
judgemental.

If not having someone say Merry Christmas to you as you leave a store
puts you
in such an uproar...why not just pray about? But trying to enforce
your beliefs
on everyone else in the world is going to do more harm than good.

I worked in a party store for awhile and one year at Christmas time
one of the
cashiers told the customer to have a merry Christmas. The customer
very politely
told her that they didnt celebrate Christmas..they were Jewish. Ever
since then
I made it a point to make sure that I didnt offend customers that way.
"Have a
great holiday" is a perfectly acceptable thing to say as well has
"Happy
holidays".

After all....the people who dont celebrate Christmas...their money is
just as
good as yours isnt it? Being a Christian doesnt make you special. And
it doesnt
make your money special either.

Oh my GOD, you're only NOW noticing that Christmas has completely lost
its true significance and has become the *biggest* gimmegimmegimmefest
ever?

Whatever happened to family, friends, kindness and goodwill toward
men? Did you ever stop and think that there are kids out there who
won't even get Christmas? Who don't even get square meals on a regular
basis? What about the troops who will spend Christmas in the
inhospitable Middle East, away from their families? What about the
families who receive the dreaded phone calls that their sons,
daughters, husbands or wives are coming home...in pine boxes?

Frankly, I think it's disgusting that with all the people out there
who are less fortunate than you that you're more caught up in whether
some poor, overworked underpaid Wal-Mart clerk says "happy holidays"
instead of "Merry Christmas." I think if that's the worst thing you
ever have to deal with, you should consider yourself pretty damned
fortunate.

"consumer driven angst" Nice turn of phrase, jesirose!

Okay, I get where you are coming from in a way. You are obviously of
Christian faith, and the idea of saying Happy Holidays instead of
Merry Christmas may irk you to no end. But, keep in mind, there are
other faiths and ideas that share our world. Jewish, Muslim,
agnostics, atheists, and even the Jehovah's Witness. Don't immediately
assume it is only because of atheists. Merry Christmas, Happy
Hannukah, Happy Kwannza, Happy Ramaden would be a mouthful.
Sure there is a whole list I could find besides those. Lighten up!!

and another thing:

It's ironic as hell to me that Christians are:

1) quick to judge others and put blame on them if the "others" don't
agree with their views and beliefs
2) quick to take delight in the abuse of gays and others with whom
they do not agree and to say things like "AIDS is god's way of
punishing homosexuals", or "all abortion doctors should be executed".
3) quick to behave in typical fascistic fashion with people who are
different

I find all of this highly amusing and ridiculous. So, I must ask:Have
you Christians COMPLETELY forgot the many teachings contained within
your own holy book, such as "Judge not lest ye be judged", "let he who
is without sin cast the first stone" and so forth???

Talk about a bunch of hypocrites. *rolls eyes*

It will be a bright day for this nation when true religious freedom
and societal differences are fully tolerated by the racist, judgmental
religious right. I still can't tell if their failure to welcome those
who are different results from their fascistic personalities or from
sheer stupidity and lack of education.

Wal-mart is not anti-Christian. "Happy Holidays" is not
anti-Christian.

The term "Happy Holidays" includes Christmas, but in a more general
term. Because someone wishes you a happy holidays does not mean they
aren't wishing you a Merry Christmas. It's inclusive to all
religions.

If you need someone to say Merry Christmas to you to be happy, then I
feel sorry for you. Why are you so focused on something so small? It's
not that big of a deal.

Have a happy holiday season!

People like this letter writer Mari are the major problem with our
country.

Not everyone in this country is CHRISTIAN, Mari. Stop trying to push
your particular religious beliefs on others. I swear, are there ANY
Christians left who don't spend most of their time proselytizing to
others?!?

I swear, a lot of these Southern, super-religious types aren't much
different than Nazis or members of any other fascist group in the past
or present. The way they look at things, it's THEIR way or not at all.
That certainly sounds like fascism to me.

Oh, and Mari, by the way, "yall" is not a word in the English
language. Go back to school and get some more education.

This issue goes far beyond Walmart and their greed for money (and not
offending anyone). I will be brief:

"I pledge Allegiance to the flag
of the United States of America
and to the Republic for which it stands,
one nation under God, indivisible,
with Liberty and Justice for all."

If you are an American citizen, the above should be your credo.

Get my drift?

By using "Happy Holidays" is a pure copout on Walmart's part. I guess
I won't be doing any "Merry Christmas Shopping" at Walmart this year!
I am sooooo sick of all this politically correct garbage.

Corporations want Christmas money without acknoledging Christmas. It's
all about money yet they don't want to offend either. They want to
have their cake and eat it too.

Let's see retailers stop ALL Christmas ads and change them all to
Kwanza ads. They won't do that. Why not? Because they won't get the
revenue they seek by advertising. Bottom line, they want the Christmas
MONEY without acknowleding Christmas.

America is a predominantly Christian country. Christmas is a Christian
holiday. Corporations claim to take "Christmas" out of Christmas so
they don't offend other cultures. This is Political Correctness gone
haywire. If I were in Africa in December, I would expect someone to
wish me a happy Kwanza. If I were in Israel in December, I would
expect to hear Happy Hanukah but since I'm in America... I expect to
hear Merry Christmas just like I expect to have people talk to me in
English. For those that do not like the American culture, you have a
choice to go back to the culture you like - or did you leave it for a
reason? Was that reason money related? I don't plan on going to Africa
in an attempt to make everyone stop saying happy Kwanza because I
might be offended by it. In turn, don't come here and tell me I
shouldn't say Merry Christmas because I might offend somebody.

Aside from that standpoint.... Do any of you know what Kwanza is and
how it is celebrated? I can tell you that it is not celebrated with
"holiday trees", snow flake decorations, big red bows and leaves of
holly... Yet every "Holiday" commercial has those clichs in them -
they simply take out any words that say Christmas. Is that supposed to
include those that celebrate Kwanza? If you want money from people who
celebrate Kwanza, make a Kwanza ad. If you want Christmas money, make
a Christmas ad. It all comes down to money - like it always does in
this country. I love my country but if there is anything I do not like
about America is the greed. People will compromise anything in order
to make a buck. It's sad. I, for one, will not do any "Christmas"
business with any company that chooses not to acknowledge Christmas.

I went to walmart.com and typed in "Christmas." I got back 7948
results. This is hardly "there is NOTHING." I see many CDs, books,
trees, decorations, etc. that are about Christmas.

Mari, I think you goofed up!

Wal-mart reccommends saying "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry
Christmas". It doesn't punish employees who say "Merry Christmas".
"Happy Holidays" is just a reccomendation.

I find it suprising that Wal-Mart doesn't have Christmas stuff up yet.
I'm sure it will appear eventually though.

Happy Hannukah.

Wal-Mart is just being "politically correct".

Since I am a "CHRISTMAS" shopper, I will not shop anywhere that
doesn't sell "CHRISTMAS" items.

A lot of place are doing the same thing, not just Suck-Mart.

I wish all of the stores would go bankrupt, but there are too many
shoppers without principles.

It's all about money, not spirit.

Hey Paula Deen,
I'm sure YALL can find lots of goodies at the dollar store, which is
where most people I've met with your level of ignorance shop tend to
frequent.
How about having some compassion for the people who are not Christian
for having to have Christmas forced down their throat everytime they
go to a store, turn on the TV, open a magazine, listen to the radio or
go to a movie this time of year?
Christ hasn't been a part of the holiday from a retail point of view
since retailers started using the holiday to trick you into spending
you McDonalds paycheck every year over acknowledging the important
things about the holiday. They only said Merry Christamas to get you
to spend more. Now they're including everyone so everyone will spend
more.
Christ was compassionate and inclusive of other people's feeling as
long as it didn't hurt anyone..why aren't you?

Christians only populate 1/3 of the worlds religions. Don't think that
everyone believes what you believe. They arent taking "christ out of
the holiday", they are just opening up the holiday to be more friendly
towards everyone. This covers Kwanzaa, Chanukah, etc. "Happy Holidays"
is their new slogan, and I applaud them for that.

You are, unwittingly, the perfect argument for caution over the
presence of religion in public life. Aggressive, ignorant, judgmental
- you pack it all into just a few garbled paragraphs.

If it bothers you so much not to have your perceived religious
preference acknowledged by strangers, you really ought to look inward
and think about why you have this personality defect, instead of
trying to change the behavior of others.