June 24, 2002

What happened to the Disney boycott?
Depends on who you ask
___By Adelle Banks
___Religion News Service
___ST. LOUIS (RNS)--As outgoing Southern Baptist Convention President James Merritt took one of his last turns at the podium, he made a crack about how he responded when asked what he planned to do when he concluded his presidency.
___"I'm going to Disney World--just a joke," he told Southern Baptists gathered at the America's Center June 12.
___But for the last five years, such a thought was not a joking matter for some Southern Baptists. In 1997, messengers to the nation's 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's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission and a leading advocate of the boycott.
___"We define the boycott as you don't take money out of your pocket and put it in Disney's pocket, which enables Disney to take that money to then subsidize the money-losing projects they do that attack our values and our beliefs."
___While there are no hard numbers to show the bocycott's impact one way or the other, Land gives partial credit for some financial challenges at Disney to the work of boycotters.
___"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."
___Disney spokesman 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."
___During the first three years of the boycott, Green said, Disney's financial situation was "quite positive."
___The later years have been influenced by a recession and the Sept. 11 tragedy, which adversely affected advertising and travel, he added.
___Among the Disney policies that bothered Baptists was providing benefits to partners of gay employees and airing programs they considered gay-friendly.
___"A lot of the issues they initially raised seem to have gone away," Green said. "One of their concerns was the show 'Ellen,' which is long gone."
___He noted 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 doesn't necessarily mean that we're going to allow them to set themselves (up) as censors of our films."
___He noted that with its purchase last year of the Fox Family Channel, now the ABC Family Channel, a Disney-owned property is carrying Pat Robertson's "700 Club" program, a show he expects many Baptists would appreciate.
___Dwayne Hastings, a vice president of the ERLC, said the boycott is not as high a priority as it was five years ago for the commission.
___But it maintains a website that includes information on the boycott, such as links to other organizations concerned about the topic.
___But families at this year's SBC annual meeting have different 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.
___Daniel Flynn, a minister of pastoral care in Fayetteville, N.C., is pro-boycott.
___"We support it 100 percent," he said. "We just boycott Disney, Disney stores, the amusement parks, everything, as a church."
___His 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, we're sending a message to them that we don't appreciate it."
___Land estimates his family has kept about $10,500 from Disney over the five-year period by not traveling to its amusement parks or going to any of its movies.

Get printer-friendly version of this story


Send this story to a friend



News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Texas Baptist churches, in the BGCT, the Southern Baptist Convention ( SBC ) and around the world.

---

Contents/ Masthead / Why We're Here / Links / Archive / E-mail us/ SUBSCRIBE!/ Signup for FirstLook