Walt Disney: Tangled up in faith

Walt Disney in 1937 (Public Domain)

Due to the popularity of Tangled, there’s been a resurgence of talk about “that old Disney magic.”  Walt, however, did not practice magic.  He instead practiced “that old-time religion.” 

According to an article that he wrote for Roland Gammon’s 1963 Faith is a Star book, Walt was raised as a Congregationalist.  He was actually named after the minister of what used to be St. Paul’s Congregational Church in Chicago.  Not only did Walt’s family faithfully attend that church - but his father, Elias, was the contractor that built it.  Elias Disney became a deacon at St. Paul’s - and sometimes led the service when the minister, Walter Parr, was away. 

The Order of DeMolay, a Masonic-affiliated organization for males between the ages of 12 and 21, also played a formative role in shaping Walt Disney’s faith journey.  The organization is named after Jacques DeMolay, final Grand Master of the Knights Templar.  In his article for Gammon, Walt Disney listed beliefs “in a supreme being, in the fellowship of man, and the sanctity of the home” as being the cornerstones of DeMolay.

As can be seen in many of Disney’s finest, Walt gave particular credence to the power of goodness as a means for overcoming evil.  He thought it was particularly important for children to learn this lesson – not by shielding them from what he called the shadowy side of life, but by teaching through inspiring example.  He believed that children have a “healthy curiosity” about the world around them that mere lecturing and preaching can’t satisfy.  Therefore, he tried “to convey in story and song those virtues that make both children and adults attractive.”

Did you know…

On this day - back in 1901 - Walt Disney was born (and the world became a happier place).

Resources

http://www.disneydreamer.com/Waltfaith.htm

http://www.yesterland.com/waltchicago.html

http://blog.beliefnet.com/bibleandculture/2010/11/tangled-up-in-you---finally-some-real-disney-magic.html

Copyright December 5, 2010 by Linda Van Slyke   All Rights Reserved