A pastor in Simi Valley, Calif., was both shocked and disturbed when he found out that his local Costco labels Bibles as fiction.
The Rev. Caleb Kaltenbach, pastor at Discovery Church, was shopping for a present for his wife when saw that every Bible in the books section had a “$14.99 Fiction” sticker plastered on it, Fox News’ Todd Starnes first reported.
“If they don’t believe in the Bible, that’s fine — but at least label it as ’religion’ as some bookstores do, or ’inspiration,’” he said.
The pastor couldn’t get any definitive answers from Costco employees as to why the Bibles were deemed fiction, so he tweeted out a photo instead.
“Costco has Bibles for sale under the genre of FICTION. Hmmmm,” he tweeted.
“People are pretty shocked and upset,” he told Fox News. “We are supposed to be living in an era of tolerance, but what Costco did doesn’t seem too tolerant.”
“On the one hand Christians should not yell out ’persecution,’” he said. “We aren’t living in Iraq or Iran. But on the other hand, I believe that we do need to stand up for our faith and we need to be vocal about our concerns.”
A woman at the Costco headquarters in Issaquah, Wash., brushed the mistake off as a “human error at a warehouse,” calling the problem fixed. When Mr. Starnes pressed the woman about what Costco plans to do with the existing Bibles with fiction stickers on them, she said Costco doesn’t talk to the press.
• Jessica Chasmar can be reached at jchasmar@washingtontimes.com.
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