by L. JOSEPH ROSAS III
o paraphrase
Will Rogers, "I'm not a member of any organized religion, I'm a Southern
Baptist." Knowing and loving the history and spirit of the people called
Southern Baptist, I must confess that I am sometimes amused and at other
times amazed at the issues our denominational family chooses as our focus.
Why Disney, again? Didn't we hear all the "Mickey Mouse" Baptist jokes last year? Do the late-night comedians need more material? What is going on here? In the resolution on "Moral Responsibility and the Disney Company," Disney, along with others in the entertainment industry, is accused of "promoting immoral ideologies such as homosexuality, infidelity, and adultery." This grew out of a desire to return Disney to its "previous philosophy" of sharing and promoting family values.
That is where we have made a major miscalculation. Disney has never been about promoting our or anybody else's values. It is a company whose primary goal was, is, and shall always be to make money. Disney is more a mirror of culture than a cause of the ills we accuse them of promoting.
Rather than raising a standard of righteousness that says, "This is the way, walk in it," or demonstrating Jesus' compassion for sinners of all types, we have resorted to the petty and vindictive response of a very human emotion, fear. It is not a far step from "Domestic partners (i.e. homosexuals) don't deserve health-insurance coverage" to "They don't deserve to live."
The apostle Paul says, "Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God?" In addition to the "sexually immoral," he mentions "thieves," "the greedy," "drunkards," "slanderers," and "swindlers" (1 Cor. 6:9-10). Why not boycott corporate greed that robs the world of resources and exploits the poor and powerless? Or the sports entertainment industry that is fueled by liquor-industry advertising dollars? Or the yellow journalism of tabloid media that twists and distorts truth all to make a buck? The Bible also condemns gluttony. Jesus even said "lust in the heart" is adultery. The point is: We live in a sin-sick world. Jesus said, "Let him without sin cast the first stone."
Life is more complex than the advocates of a simple boycott realize. Unless we are going to retreat into religious ghettoes and be totally isolated from the outside world, we can't so easily resolve problems with the hedonistic and pagan culture in which we live. The world is too much with us. I was standing in line at a Dallas McDonald's and noticing a poster advertising the sale of a Disney CD featuring popular theme songs from that company's various children's movies.
All of a sudden it hit me that the boycott many of the people in line ahead of me had voted for earlier that day would have little effect. It hadn't even lasted through the supper hour at McDonald's. In fact, a great deal of misunderstanding of Southern Baptists and free promotion of Disney is probably the only lasting legacy of the called-for boycott. Edwin Markham's poem about the circle comes to mind:
He drew a circle that shut me out --
Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout.
But Love and I had the wit to win:
We drew a circle that took him in.
In a day of fragmenting culture wars and the loss of civil discourse in the public square, those claiming to be people of God need to be drawing bigger circles of love. (Dr. L. Joseph Rosas III is pastor at Union Avenue Baptist Church, president of the Memphis Ministers Association, and a member of the executive board of the Tennessee Baptist Convention.)