Accidental truth in labeling


A Costco store in California got into hot water when it placed on a shelf labeled as ‘Fiction’.

Caleb Kaltenbach, pastor of Discovery Church, came across the Bibles while shopping for a gift and tweeted the picture on Friday with the comment: “Costco has Bibles for sale under the genre of FICTION Hmmmm…”

That didn’t sit well with members of his congregation.

“I was completely offended. It’s wrong, and I believe that the Bible is real,” Shellie Dungan told KTLA-TV.

Word of the fiction label spread quickly on social media, propelling Kaltenbach onto local and national TV broadcasts, including Fox News, which labeled its segment “50 Shades of Fiction?”

Of course, the store immediately responded by relabeling the Bibles but the story did not say to what category.

But Dungan is right in one respect. The Bible is real. It is the stories in in that are mostly fiction. But I don’t think that will soothe her offended feelings.

Comments

  1. kyoseki says

    Costco sells Bibles?

    … in Los Angeles?

    I wasn’t even aware that Costco sold books at all, although I’ll admit I usually make a bee line for the liquor & meat sections.

  2. doublereed says

    This is one of those stories where one can use it to sort religious people by how seriously they actually take religion. Nice litmus test.

    You’ll get the ones who just laugh it off. You’ll get the ones who shrug it off. You get the ones that laugh but don’t think it’s right. You get the ones that shake their heads condescendingly. You get the ones that get massively offended. etc. etc.

  3. AnotherAnonymouse says

    Wait a minute; I’ve been a Costco member for 10 years, and I sometimes buy books there. Every Costco I’ve ever been to has one long table for books, and the books are all jumbled together. The cooking books are cheek-by-jowl with the bestsellers and the teen books. There are no sections.

  4. Acolyte of Sagan says

    It was just the word ‘fiction’ on the price label affixed to the book cover that caused the offence.

  5. lanir says

    They obviously never read it or had someone explain to them what the word “parable” really means (that last is more of a point since they tend to be popular parts for churches to read). It’s always a bit amazing to realize how little people know about the subjects they’re getting so offended about. You’d think they would at least figure out what their own side is about before they go off on a rant.

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