I'm rather new to BRP myself (I played Runequest about two times back in the 80s) but the system seems dead simple to me. It has lots of room for complication and confusion, sure, but these are all things (as noted by others above) you don't need to play the game.
The one thing I'd suggest - and this is based on introducing casual gamers to other games I've played - is to run your first game with pre-generated characters. Hand them a well put together character with a hint of developed personality and let them get into the game without having to start from scratch. This way they get to play rather than build, which seems to help.
Basically, treat it like a more codified version of the "dinner murder mystery" games and watch the casual folk ham it up. Then, once they're hooked, you can throw them the chance for them to develop their own characters.
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