As outgoing Southern Baptist Convention President James Merritt took one of his last turns at the recent annual meeting podium, he made a crack about how he responds when asked what he planned to do when he concludes his presidency.
“Im going to Disney World,” he told Southern Baptists gathered for their annual convention in St. Louis.
“Just a joke.”
As outgoing Southern Baptist Convention President James Merritt took one of his last turns at the recent annual meeting podium, he made a crack about how he responds when asked what he planned to do when he concludes his presidency.
“Im going to Disney World,” he told Southern Baptists gathered for their annual convention in St. Louis.
“Just a joke.”
But for the last five years, such a thought was not a joking matter for some Southern Baptists. In 1997, messengers of the nations largest Protestant denomination voted overwhelmingly to boycott the Walt Disney Co.
“I think there are hundreds of thousands of Southern Baptists who are continuing the boycott very conscientiously,” said Richard Land, president of the SBC Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission.
“We define the boycott as you dont take money out of your pocket and put it in Disneys pocket, which enables Disney to take that money to … subsidize the money-losing projects that they do that attack our values and our beliefs.”
While there are no hard numbers to show the boycotts impact one way or the other, Land gives it partial credit for some financial challenges at Disney.
“The fact that they have closed down significant numbers of their stores, Disney stores particularly in the Southwest and the Southeast is not unrelated to the Baptist boycott effort,” he said. “The fact that ABC and others are losing money and viewership is not unrelated to the boycott.”
However, Disney spokesperson Ken Green said any economic difficulties are related to the economy, not the boycott. “I think if you look at the overall economy, things have been tough all over,” he said. “We see no connection between their activities and our business.”
For the first three years of the boycott, Disneys financial situation was “quite positive,” Green said. The later years have been influenced by a recession and the Sept. 11 tragedy, which adversely affected advertising and travel, he noted.
Among the Disney policies that bothered Baptists was its providing of benefits to partners of gay employees and airing programs they considered gay-friendly.
“A lot of the issues that they initially raised seem to have gone away,” Green said. “One of their concerns was the show Ellen, which is long gone.”
In addition, he noted that many more companies have extended benefits to gay partners of employees.
“We have not sought to be in an adversarial situation with the Baptists or anyone else,” Green said. “We have discussed their concerns, but it doesnt necessarily mean that were going to allow them to set themselves (up) as censors of our films.”
Green noted that with its purchase of the Fox Family Channel last year – now the ABC Family Channel – a Disney-owned property is carrying Pat Robertsons “700 Club” program, a show he said many Baptists probably would appreciate.
Meanwhile, an Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission spokesperson acknowledged the boycott is not as high a priority as it was five years ago for the agency. Still, it maintains a Web site (www.erlc.com) that includes information on the boycott, such as links to other organizations concerned about the topic, said Dwayne Hastings, vice president of the Southern Baptist agency.
“It is an important issue, particularly an important issue for families,” he said.
Families at the recent annual meeting of the denomination have varying points of view on the boycott.
“It really hasn’t affected us,” said Matthew Buerhaus, a Cullman, Ala., youth pastor. “We do think about it when we buy Disney movies.”
Although his father keeps a “Boycott Disney” bumper sticker on his car, Buerhaus said he appreciates what Disney has to offer. “Disney overall seems to be wholesome,” he said, pushing his six-month-old son in a stroller.
Meanwhile, Daniel Flynn is pro-boycott.
“We support it 100 percent,” said Flynn, a minister of pastoral care in Fayatteville, N.C. “We just boycott Disney, Disney stores, the amusement parks, everything, as a church.”
Flynns 10-year-old son and his 15-month-old daughter do without the products without complaint, he said.
“We feel just as strongly as when we did the boycott that Disney is not promoting the family,” Flynn said. “However big or small it might be, were sending a message to them that we dont appreciate it.”
For his part, Land estimates his family has kept about $10,500 from Disney during the five-year period by not traveling to its amusement parks or going to any of its movies. “And trust me, for a movie buff like me, thats a significant financial factor,” he said.
Meanwhile, the boycott remains in place.
At the 2001 Southern Baptist Convention, the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission said four specific expectations must be met before Southern Baptists consider lifting it – that Disney cease promotion of “Gay Days” at theme parks, halt publication of pro-homosxual books, refrain from advocating the “radical homosexual agenda” through its broadcast venues and establish an advisory committee of Southern Baptists and other evangelicals to provide “advice and counsel” on Disney entertainment projects.
But as Land noted at the time – “The convention is free to affirm, ignore or adapt these recommendations.” (RNS)