First Baptist Church of Orlando, Fla., baptized more than 100 people June 4 on the shores of a Walt Disney World lake in the latest act of reconciliation between the entertainment giant and evangelical Christians.
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Several hundred congregants and their families gathered late in the afternoon to watch believers ages 7 to 88 as they were immersed in the waters in an act symbolizing their faith in Jesus Christ.
During the simple ceremony, children, couples and a family of five gathered under trees thick with Spanish moss on the white sands of Disney's Contemporary Resort's North Lake. Dressed in white robes, they joined a half-dozen ministers in the lake who dunked them backward into the waters after they proclaimed their new faith. Some quietly walked off; others emerged joyfully throwing their hands in the air.
Once the target of a boycott by a coalition of religious conservatives, including the Southern Baptist Convention, Disney has begun moving closer to evangelical groups. For example, in December, the company distributed "The Chronicles of Narnia" movie, based on a C.S. Lewis book that is a longtime favorite of Christians. Christian-oriented marketing companies were hired to promote the films with churches and pastors.
For their part, Southern Baptists last year declared an end to a boycott of Disney. The boycott was sparked in the 1990s after the Southern Baptist Convention accused then- Disney Chairman Michael Eisner of undermining the company's reputation for traditional values through products and policies sympathetic to homosexuals. Eisner left the company in September and was replaced by Robert Iger.
