Don Wildmon
AFA/AFR founder
August 1997 – The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) recently voted to boycott Disney. The SBC joined other groups that have expressed their concern for the moral direction of Disney: American Family Association, The Assemblies of God, The Catholic League, Catholics United for the Faith, The Church of God (Cleveland), International Church of the Foursquare Gospel, Association of Independent Methodists, Church of the Nazarene, the Presbyterian Church in America and the Association of Free Will Baptists, to mention a few. The list will continue to grow.
There were two reactions by the secular media to the SBC vote. First, they gave it good coverage. Second, they didn’t like it.
That a Christian group would call for a boycott of Disney should come as no surprise. This is the company which has arguably done more than any other in America to promote homosexuality. This is a company that signed Martin Scorsese, the producer of The Last Temptation of Christ, to a four-year-contract. This is the company that hired a convicted child molester to direct its movie Powder. This is a company that released the movie Priest which depicts Catholic priests as dysfunctionals and blames their problems on Church teachings. This is a company which originally purchased and intended to distribute Kids, the pornographic movie about early teen sex and drug abuse. And this is a company which has promoted itself for more than half a century as being a family values company.
A boycott is a tool of final resort. It is difficult to get going, and more difficult to stop. For years AFA has been trying to get Disney to change course. For the last year so has the SBC. But Mickey’s big ears have been deaf.
Disney is dismissing the boycott. One former top executive said, “I can tell you Disney views this as a gnat on an elephant.” But if enough gnats attack the elephant the damage can be done. A mighty giant has been known to be brought down with a single pebble. No one is under the illusion that the boycott will bankrupt Disney. But bankruptcy isn’t necessary for a boycott to be successful.
Another former top Disney official said, “Disney doesn’t take this that seriously because they know these guys can’t deliver on the threat. They see this as a bunch of guys at the top of the church mouthing off to get publicity.” That is good news for those promoting the boycott. History records that underestimating his strength and determination aids the opponent.
Perhaps the most telling reaction to the boycott in our increasingly pagan society was the disbelief that people would be willing to give up their entertainment because of their religious convictions! This notion confounds many in the secular media, and even some religious critics.
SBC Messenger Lisa Kinney of Largo, Florida, stunned the critics with her words at the convention. “I met Mickey Mouse as a child,” she said. “But six years ago, I met Jesus Christ and he changed my life. He not only saved me, but he called me to a personal holiness. Several years ago I came to the conclusion I was sinning by spending my time and money on Disney. I will not visit their parks, I will not buy their products, I will not support Disney in any way. We cannot participate in their godlessness.
“If we must completely turn off our TVs, so be it. It’s no great loss. We must affirm to the world that we love Jesus more than we love our entertainment.”
Jesus told a parable about this once. You will find it in Matthew 13:45-46. “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it.”
Lisa Kinney understands what Jesus was saying. So do millions of others. To those who have found the pearl of great price, the boycott makes perfect sense. To others, it is an ill-conceived, misguided, wrong, stupid, silly effort which is doomed to failure.
The camp in which one finds himself tells what he values most. 
