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 | The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights was the first group to call "for a boycott against the formerly family-friendly entertainment giant; [Disney]." They did this on 1995. 1 |
| Assemblies of God: The AoG is the second largest Pentecostal Christian group in the US with a membership in excess of 2 million members. They started their boycott in 1996. |
| The Southern Baptist Convention initially threatened an boycott in 1996. The implemented it in 1997. |
Additional groups have either joined the Southern Baptist Convention's boycott, have endorsed the boycott by others, or have expressed concern over the direction that Disney has taken. 2
Support for the boycotts:
According to the American Family Association, as of 1997-SEP-6 other groups boycotting Disney include: 3
| American Family Association. (AFA) This is a Christian ministry of Dr. D.E. Wildmon. They publish the AFA Journal; they boycott Disney and some other firms. Their appear to specialize in economic boycotts and anti-homosexual programs. 3 |
| Catholics United for the Faith, is a lay group promoting traditional Church doctrine and liturgy. They are active in the promotion of chastity programs for young people, and are actively opposed to secular sex-ed programs. |
| Congregational Holiness Church is a small Pentecostal denomination which reported 6,378 members in 1987. 4 |
| The National Association of Free Will Baptists unanimously adopted a resolution at its annual meeting in 1997-JUL. They are a denomination composed of about 2,500 churches and 250,000 members. The resolution states: "Whereas, we are dissatisfied with the direction of the Walt Disney Corporation concerning their support and approval of homosexuality, which we consider a perverted lifestyle and a sin against God. Be it resolved that the National Association of Free Will Baptists go on record encouraging our churches to boycott their products and inform the Disney Corporation of our action." 5 |
They list 6 groups which have "formally expressed concern over the direction of the Disney company:"
| Association of Independent Methodists, |
| The Church of God of Cleveland, Tennessee, |
| Church of the Nazarene, |
| General Association of Regular Baptists, |
| International Church of the Foursquare Gospel, |
| Presbyterian Church of America. |
Finally, they say that a number of groups have endorsed the boycott:
| Concerned Women for America is a very conservative Christian group which has about 500,000 members. They state that they are the largest "pro-family" women's group in the US. The term "pro-family" is used by many conservative Christians to refer to groups that are opposed to women's access to abortion, that attempt to continue special rights for heterosexuals, that oppose equal rights for women and that promote other causes of the religious right. Chairperson Dr.Beverly LaHaye founded CWA in 1979 during the Equal Rights Amendment debate. They announced on 1997-JUL-23 that they would join the SBC boycott. Spokesperson Paula Govers, said that they had had a closed-door session with Disney, but failed to persuade them to move to a completely "family-friendly format." Their main concerns appeared to be the lesbian themes in ABC's "Ellen" show, the unofficial Gay Days at Disney World, and Disney's equal treatment of employees of all sexual orientations in its insurance plans. They were also concerned at the costumes worn by some cartoon characters, like Pocahontas and The Little Mermaid; they were too skimpy. Disney spokesperson, John Drayer, said: "The Disney brand is the most prolific provider of family entertainment in the world. We feel the only intention of this (meeting) was to provide a news hook for a press conference." 6 | ||||||
| King for America is a Christian civil rights group founded by Alveda C. King, the niece of the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Ms. King has said that her group and others want Disney to have its subsidiaries "integrate those same values" the parent company has been known for. She continued: "That’s not very hard to do. Disney knows how to be a parent, and Disney knows how to promote family values. That needs to go throughout the whole organization. Right now that’s not happening. We still believe that Disney has the opportunity to make those changes. However, the momentum of a movement once started cannot be easily stopped, perhaps never stopped. So we want Disney to know how furious we are and yet how concerned we are." 7 | ||||||
| Christian Financial Concepts is a ministry that helps people control their spending and investments according to Christian principles. 8 | ||||||
| Focus on the Family This is a Fundamentalist Christian group founded by Dr.
James Dobson. Their Family News in Focus news bulletins and their daily program
hosted by Dr. Dobson are heard on hundreds of conservative Christian radio stations in the
US. They joined the boycott on 1997-AUG-27. Dr. Dobson said: "It has become clear
that the Disney organization has utter disdain for those who hold traditional moral
principles and conservative family values. Year after year, its leaders have insulted this
large segment of the population by producing films, television and music that contradict
cherished beliefs...we can certainly let our constituency know that Disney is no
longer friendly to the family and call attention to the immoral material they are now
producing." FOFA's goals are to:
|
In addition to the AFA list, there are at least four other groups that are involved in some level with the boycott:
| American Guardian is an extreme conservative Christian site that targets gays and lesbians, and other minorities. It disseminates information about sexual orientation that most researchers in the field would regard as misleading. It attacks Wiccans and other Neopagans, saying: "The promotion of abortion is not just a political and social issue; it is part of a religious and spiritual agenda the religion of witchcraft and child sacrifice." It attacks the Jewish Anti-Defamation League which it claims "is a very powerful, secretive racial/religious supremacist organization, with substantial ties to the underworld of crime and pornography..." All together, one of the most hate-filled sites that we have ever seen on the Internet. 9 |
| Citizens for a Better America is a national organization that supports moral and "values-based" candidates who are running for public office. Their chairperson and founder, Robert Colaco, commented: "We have a growing emphasis in America on protecting our children, from cigarettes to pornography, yet the Disney that Walt built, which was a model of American family values, is being changed and used to advocate things that hurt our children." 10 |
| The Family Research Council, and Coral Ridge Ministries attended a meeting with Concerned Women for America, other conservative Christian groups with Disney in 1997-JUL. But they apparently decided to not join the boycott. |
According to the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, the following groups have signed the boycott:
| American Catholic Lawyers Association |
| American Family Association |
| American Life League |
| Americans United for the Pope |
| Ancient Order of Hibernians (Division #4, New York County) |
| Cardinal Mindszenty Foundation |
| Cardinal Newman Society |
| Catholic Answers, Inc. |
| Catholic Central Union |
| Catholic Coalition for Truth |
| Catholic Coalition of Westchester |
| Catholics United for the Faith |
| Catholic Defense League of Minnesota |
| Chinese Catholic Information Center |
| Christian Action Network |
| Concerned Women for America |
| Coral Ridge Ministries |
| Dove Foundation |
| Focus on the Family |
| League of Catholic Voters |
| Legatus; Jewish Action Alliance |
| Jews for Morality |
| Knights of Columbus |
| Morality in Media |
| Muslim Coalition/Peace Press Association |
| National Association of Black Catholics |
| National Cops for Life |
| Pro-Ecclesia Foundation |
| Pro-Life Action League |
| Sons of Italy, Commission for Social Justice |
| Southern Baptists |
| Women for Faith and Family |
"Your Official Disney Boycott Site" commenced operations on 1997-JUL-1. They comment: "More and more families and organizations are joining the Disney Boycott once they see all the facts. Pro-Disney web sites would have you believe only the "religious right" (a term apparently used to describe anyone who is not homosexual) is Boycotting Disney. This is far from the truth. Concerned fair minded people all over the world are Boycotting Disney for a variety of reasons." 11They have a very attractive logo which implies that Disney is:
| anti: family, religion, union. |
| pro: abortion, homosexual agenda, Satanic music and movies, sweatshop labor. |
| exhibits: racism, corporate greed, media control. |
References:
- The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights has an essay on Disney at: http://www.catholicleague.org/Disney/disney.htm
- Chris Vest, "More Groups Join Southern Baptist Boycott," at: http://www.usaenews.com/usae/news/715news/Disney2.htm
- The American Family Association, Inc. has a home page at: http://www.afa.net An essay on the boycott, titled "The gnats are swarming around Dumbo," is at: http://www.afa.net/gnats.htm They have a list of Disney subsidiaries at: http://www.afa.net/disney/disney1.htm that you can consult to follow (or oppose) the boycott.
- The Congregational Holiness Church, Inc. has a homepage under construction at: http://personal.atl.bellsouth.net/atl/c/h/chchurch/church.htm
- A brief description of the Free Will Baptist's resolution is at http://www.umr.org/HTdisney.htm
- Concerned Women for America has a press release on their decision to boycott Disney at: http://www.cwfa.org/archive/pressreleases/press_disney.html
- Tom Strode, "Disney ‘Stonewalling’ Brings Women’s Group into Boycott," Southern Baptist Convention, at http://www.erlc.com/Culture/Disney/1997/723CWA.htm
- Christian Financial Concepts' home page is at: http://www.cfcministry.org/
- American Guardian at: http://www.thundernet.org/
- Citizens for a Better America's home page is at: http://home.earthlink.net/~colaco/contents.html
- Your Official Disney Boycott Site is at: http://www.laker.net/webpage/Boycott.htm
- Focus on the Family has a home page at: http://www.fotf.org. They have an essay "Beware of the Magic Kingdom: The 'Families Can't Trust Disney' Boycott" at http://www.fotf.org/FeatureArticles/fx500.html
Copyright © 1997 to 2000 incl. by Ontario
Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Extracted from disney.htm on 2000-NOV-28 for size
reasons
Latest update: 2000-DEC-4
Author: B.A. Robinson
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