After a series of reports by WorldNetDaily, Wal-Mart officials have satisfied demands by the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, which had called for a national boycott after accusing the retail giant of discriminating against Christmas while promoting other seasonal holidays by name, such as Kwanzaa and Hanukkah.
Catholic League president Bill Donohue said Wal-Mart has apologized, withdrawn “its insane statement” on the origins of Christmas and revised its website.
“This is a sweet victory for the Catholic League, Christians in general, and people of all faiths,” Donohue said. “And it means that Wal-Mart can now enter the Christmas season without this cloud hanging over it.”
Donohue said a customer service employee named Kirby who touched off the controversy with an e-mail about the origins of Christmas has been fired.
Wal-Mart spokesman Dan Fogleman released a statement last night saying, “We sincerely apologize to any person or organization that was offended by the inappropriate and inflammatory comments made by this former associate.”
Donohue said Wal-Mart also has adjusted its website so that when a customer types "Christmas" in its search engine, he no longer gets, "We've brought you to our Holiday page based on your search." Now the customer is taken directly to a site named "Christmas."
Wal-Mart says it will not change its policy of encouraging employees to say "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas," Donohue noted.
Bill Donohue
"This is dumb, but it was never part of the Catholic League's complaint," he said. "We only trigger boycotts when we've been grossly offended."
The controversy was sparked when a woman recently complained to Wal-Mart that the store was replacing its "Merry Christmas" greeting with "Happy Holidays."
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