At the end of last March, the Florida governor signed into law House Bill 1557, “Parental Rights in Education” prohibiting classroom discussion about sexual orientation or gender identity either pro or con in grades Kindergarten through 3rd grade. Walt Disney Company, the largest employer in Florida, opposes the bill. The company wants K–3rd graders actively exposed to these ideologies.
In an online meeting that was leaked, several executives from Walt Disney Company spoke about their personal missions to add as much of their own sexual ideology as possible into children’s programming. Latoya Raveneau, an executive producer, said, “Our leadership over there [at Disney] has been so welcoming to my not-at-all-secret gay agenda. I was just, wherever I could, just basically adding queerness. . . . No one would stop me and no one was trying to stop me.”
Obviously, this creates a problem for Christian parents. Disney is an enjoyable source of entertainment for us, but what shall we do when the entertainment they create isn’t just neutral but actively contrary to biblical teaching?
It’s not that Disney is bad and Christians can never watch anything produced by them. There are good things in there too. The Christian task when consuming anything produced in the world is to discern what can be accepted and what must be rejected. But that is a task that requires active reflecting and talking with kids and each other. It is a skill that must be taught and practiced.
When you watch Disney’s stories with your family (and please watch with them, not leaving your kids alone), don’t just give in to everything. Have conversations about what you see. Talk about (1) things that are aligned with the gospel, (2) things that are not aligned with the gospel, (3) and things that are twisted versions of the gospel but can be untwisted. (Check out https://popcorntheology.com for Christian commentary on films from all kinds of genres, not just Disney.)
As people of the book telling The Story of God’s activity, Christians should know better than anyone the potential power of stories to change hearts and minds. It’s your responsibility to rehearse the best story with our Christians kids and teach them to measure all other stories against that One.
(And remember, contrary to another thing Disney wants you to think, their products are optional; you don’t have to or need to engage the things Disney makes or give your money to them.)