Catholic League: Wal-Mart Joins Neo-Puritan Left In Banning Baby Jesus' Birthday

I had originally posted this yesterday, but feared it was a hoax being played on Bill Donohue and the Catholic League. I mean, come on. Who, in a big multi-national corporation like Wal-Mart, would be so idiotic as to write a letter describing the "origins" of Christmas in the way this corporate lackey apparently did?

So, doubting the authenticity of the whole thing, I pulled it until I heard a little bit more about it. Today, there's enough out there about the story that I no longer doubt some moron at Wal-Mart actually did write the idiotic letter in question:

November 9, 2005

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.” Contact Fogleman at dan.fogleman@wal-mart.com

Thanks to Paul for linking to my original post from yesterday. Sorry for any confusion my pulling it may have caused.

UPDATE:
A reader points to a couple of items here and here, which indicate that perhaps my initial assessment of hoax may have been correct.