Coors Foundation Buys A Round For Promise Keepers.

A foundation controlled by the Coors brewing empire has donated $50,000 to the Promise Keepers.

Promise Keepers, a supposedly nonpolitical men-only evangelical movement launched by former University of Colorado football coach Bill McCartney, received the money from the Castle Rock Foundation in 1997, the Rocky Mountain News reported recently.

The newspaper reported that Castle Rock, which is tax exempt, poured more than $400,000 into various right-wing groups last year, most of them working to bring down President Bill Clinton. The foundation's biggest grant last year ($150,000) went to the Free Congress Foundation, headed by Paul Weyrich.

Founded in 1993, Castle Rock now has assets of $63 million. It was given the name Castle Rock specifically to distance itself from the Coors beer empire, although it is totally controlled by Coors family members. The Coors family has long been active in right-wing politics and has recently turned its attention to a variety of anti-Clinton efforts.

Promise Keepers may need a lot more money from Castle Rock in the future, if current trends continue. This year the organization eliminated the $60 admission fee to its stadium rallies, slashing its income from $70 million in 1997 to $48 million this year. The organization plans to hold half as many rallies in 1999 as it did this year, and 55 members of its 235-member staff were laid off last month.

But not all of the news is bad for the Promise Keepers. Ministry officials report growth overseas, especially in Canada, Germany, Australia and New Zealand. In addition, the group is moving ahead with its plan to have men meet in small "accountability groups." Brenda E. Brasher, an independent researcher in Ohio who is working on a book about the movement, told Religion News Service that the groups, which usually consist of five to 10 men, are taking off around the country.