A COLUMN BY Dick Rolfe Chairman, THE DOVE FOUNDATION
Is the Disney Boycott a Proper Response?
I addressed this issue one year ago, when my own church denomination, The Assemblies of God, decreed a churchwide boycott of the Walt Disney Company, "for abandoning the commitment to strong moral values." The issue was over several corporate decisions that sent a message that Disney was supporting, and perhaps even encouraging homosexual behavior. Disney followed the other major studios by offering gay and lesbian employees same-sex partner insurance benefits typically reserved for spouses. The church also noted the Gay & Lesbian Day held each year at Disney World in Orlando Florida. This year the event, not sponsored by Disney, drew over 60,000 people to the theme park, most of them homosexuals.
The Southern Baptist Church, America's largest Protestant denomination, just declared their intentions to boycott all Disney Company's products and properties.
This action caused me to reexamine my article from last year to see if I feel differently about this issue today. My observations are so similar to what they were a year ago, that I decided to reprint my comments from last June in the remainder of this column. Here is what I wrote.
"Should I spend my money supporting movies made by a corporation under attack by the largest Christian denomination in America?"
Since you asked me. . . Yes. I believe that boycotts should be activity or product-specific where possible. If you oppose Disney's corporate fringe benefits policies for same sex partners, don't apply there for a job. If you object to an activity they permit at their theme parks like Gay Pride Day, don't attend. If you disapprove of a particular movie they release, don't buy a ticket or rent the video. Instead, financially support only those things they do, or buy only those things they produce that meet your standards.
From a Christian point of view, it seems to me that organizing a company-wide boycott is something like committing spiritual capital punishment -- starving an unbeliever rather than saving him. Can we expect a non-Christian to embrace God's ways before he's saved? Shouldn't we build bridges to reach him with the truth rather than cut him off before the truth has been revealed to him?
What if we actually did boycott the Walt Disney Company right into bankruptcy? We would have succeeded in ruining the largest single supplier of family entertainment in history. That would certainly be a hollow victory.
I call on all Christians from all denominations to rally together and reach out to the Walt Disney Company, Warner Brothers, Paramount Pictures, Twentieth Century Fox, MGM/UA, MCA/Universal Pictures and every other studio and film production company with encouragement and support whenever they produce wholesome, godly entertainment. Jesus set the example when he encouraged people by saying, "This is the way, walk ye in it."
The law of supply and demand is one of God's laws, too. It's up to us to make it work for the Kingdom. .
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Dick Rolfe is Chairman of The Dove Foundation a nonprofit organization whose mission is to encourage and promote the creation, production and distribution of wholesome family entertainment. For more information about wholesome films and videos, write: 535 E. Fulton, Suite 1A, Grand Rapids, MI 49503, or call (616)454-5024.
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Updated by: Scott RolfeCopyright © 1997, The Dove Foundation. All rights reserved.