Costco Bibles Labeled As Fiction, Retailer Forced To Apologize
Costco, the big box retailer, labeled Bibles sold at their stores as fiction, which brought on an onslaught of criticism and forced the stores to apologize.
A pastor, who was shopping at a Simi Valley Costco, noticed that some of the Bibles being sold at the store were labeled as fiction.
How would you categorize the Bible? Not fiction in the opinion of this pastor that visited the Southern California big box store. Many believers agree.
In fact, Pastor Caleb Kaltenbach felt so strongly about the mislabeling he saw in the Costco Bibles that he felt the urge to share a photo of it on Twitter, saying:
“Costco has Bibles for sale under the genre of FICTION. Hmmm….”
Speaking to Fox News, Pastor Kaltenbach explains:
“All the Bibles were labeled as fiction. It seemed bizarre to me.”
Kaltenbach is the leader at the non-denominational Christian Discovery Church, and tells Fox that people are quite outraged at the gaffe in the labeling of the Bibles by Costco.
“People are pretty shocked and upset. We are supposed to be living in an era of tolerance, but what Costco did doesn’t seem too tolerant.”
Costco has Bibles for sale under the genre of FICTION Hmmmm…… pic.twitter.com/mLZVogkSfd
— Caleb Kaltenbach (@calebwilds) November 15, 2013
A Costco representative told Fox there was “human error” at the warehouse and the mislabeling was “all fixed.” However, Pastor Kaltenbach’s tweet garnered enough attention that it was a trending topic, with many people commenting on Twitter:
Costco Apologizes For Bibles Labeled As “Fiction” At California Store http://t.co/6WZuu71qXX #KTLA #NewsCostco
— News Detector (@NewsDetector) November 21, 2013
#Bibles labeled as ‘fiction’ at CA #Costco, pastor challenges store http://t.co/IGeQM5qynO
— TucsonNewsNow (@TucsonNewsNow) November 21, 2013
The Bible is the most important book for Christians and Jews alike and it is usually labeled in “religion” in libraries or book stores.
“If they don’t believe in the Bible, that’s fine – but at least label it as ‘religion’ as some bookstores do, or ‘inspiration’,” Kaltenbach told Fox News.
Costco insisted the explanation about the mislabeled Bibles has to do with an error at their distribution center.
“However, we take responsibility and should have caught the mistake. We are correcting this with them for future distribution,” the retailer said in a statement.
Do you think Costco labeling the Bible as fiction is problematic or an honest mistake?
