Baptist delegates reject Wal-Mart boycott

By RUDI KELLER

Southeast Missourian

Missouri Baptists are upset with Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, for supporting gay and lesbian issues but not angry enough to boycott the company.

On Wednesday, delegates from 2,100 Baptist churches in Missouri attending the annual meeting of the Missouri Baptist Convention approved a resolution calling on Wal-Mart to "reconsider their policy which offends so many customers."

During debate, delegates rejected a floor amendment calling for a boycott of the retail giant. On the show-of-hands vote, 30 to 40 percent of the delegates voted in favor of a boycott, leaders at the convention estimated.

Wal-Mart in August joined the Corporate Advisory Council of the Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce, paying $25,000 annual dues. The company is "reaching out to the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community as part of an ongoing commitment to nondiscrimination and diversity, just as we are reaching out to other groups," Wal-Mart spokesman Dave Tovar said Wednesday.

Tovar would not comment on the resolution passed at the convention's gathering in the Show Me Center in Cape Girardeau.

The resolution specifically mentioned the Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce connection and also took note of Wal-Mart's sponsorship of "training events aimed at defeating a constitutional ban on homosexual marriages."

Supporters of a boycott said only economic muscle, not words, will force Wal-Mart to reconsider its actions.

"The only thing Wal-Mart understands is revenue," said Brad Haines of Grandview, Mo. "We need a financial boycott of Wal-Mart and its entities for this resolution to have teeth."

Opponents of the boycott pointed to help Wal-Mart provides for projects at local ministries. Others questioned whether Wal-Mart should be singled out, noting that several other major corporations also are members of the Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce advisory council.

"Maybe we picked out a giant to make an example of," said Glen Golden, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Iberia, Mo. "When we pick out one giant, we ought to pick out them all."

During the debate, Rodney Albert, pastor of the Hallsville Baptist Church in Hallsville, Mo., called a boycott "premature." As a member of the Resolutions Committee, Albert helped draft the resolution aimed at changing Wal-Mart corporate policies.

"We really would not want to be out there on our own," Albert said.

Baptists and other conservative religious groups in 2005 ended a lengthy boycott of the Walt Disney Co., an economic action that supporters said forced significant changes at the company.

The boycott forced Disney to close several retail stores in the Southeast, divest itself from the Miramax motion picture division, and caused a drop in the company bond rating, said Richard Land, president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention.

"They are not doing everything we wish they had done, but they have done a lot," Land said.

When that boycott was dropped, critics said it had not caused Disney to alter any of its policies or practices, according to news reports.

The lack of a boycott in the Wal-Mart resolution doesn't make it weak, Albert said. It contains language that puts Wal-Mart on notice that it is being watched, he said.

"Clearly we are serious about putting our dollars in companies that promote a responsible, moral lifestyle," Albert said.

rkeller@semissourian.com

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