Storm troopers in the culture war.

There are at least three major facets to Promise Keepers. The first of these is implicit in its religious origin, leadership, and goal. PK originated in a charismatic group of Vineyard Christian churches that feature emotionally charged services, rock music, and what John Wimber, an influential Vineyard leader, calls power evangelism." PK's top officials -- President Randy Phillips; cofounder, chief executive officer, and former University of Colorado head football coach Bill McCartney; and cofounder and pastor James Ryle -- are members of the Valley Vineyard Church in Boulder, Colorado.

PK's stated goal is to be the instrument of "biblical unity" or breaking down the walls" of denominational and doctrinal distinction by building a new denomination or para-church. According to its fact sheet:

PK is not a membership or dues-paying organization, but

is part of a larger movement of Christian men becoming

more active throughout their local churches.... Through

stadium conferences, educational seminars, resource

materials, and local churches ... Promise Keepers seeks

to unite Christian men . . . believing that accountable

relationships among men are critical in helping one

another... PK is not a political or partisan organization,

nor is it affiliated with any denomination. Finally, Promise

Keepers. does not promote a self-help or self-improvement

philosophy, but encourages men to commit every

aspect of their lives to Jesus Christ.

Obviously, PK does not want to alert existing churches and denominations to its intent to supplant them, but it has developed a centralized headquarters with thirty-six regional offices serving all fifty states and about 16,000 local groups; "independently run spin-offs" in Australia, New Zealand, and Canada; a daily radio program; and other features of a "nondenominational" organization -- including a fundamentalist theology based upon biblical inerrancy.

Promise Keepers competes with the Southern Baptists in targeting Jews for conversion. It speaks of this as "the next frontier in reconciliation" and recently convened a meeting of Messianic Jewish leaders in Atlanta, Georgia. According to its July 1997 Promise Keepers News, PK claims "approximately 150 Messianic Jewish congregations and nearly 200,000 Messianic believers across the United States." Justin Kron, a Messianic Jew, is PK's Illinois field representative.

Promise Keepers has also begun efforts to penetrate Roman Catholic churches. For example, in Buffalo, New York, where Catholics are the largest denomination, PK organized a Roman Catholic mass as part of its Rich Stadium conference in June 1997. Although not well attended despite its prior publicity (only about fifty men took part), the mass was designed to prepare Catholic men for participation in the PK conference. That same afternoon, Catholic clergy were among other local clergy at a PK luncheon.

The key to PK's para-church is in its local groups, which meet weekly. In its literature, PK says, Since 1996 more than 120,000 men have been trained by Promise Keepers to lead small groups of men in local communities." Each group is led by a "key man" chosen by the national organization. One of the seven promises of a Promise Keeper requires active participation in a small group of other men who monitor all aspects of each other's behavior, including their sexual relations, family life, business practices, and financial affairs. The key men report to "ambassadors" who, in turn, report to headquarters.

Olin Henneman is PK's Upstate New York field representative, whose territory includes most of the state, from Newburgh and Poughkeepsie west to Buffalo and Jamestown. Henneman says his job is "to start and assist task forces for PK, training men to become ambassadors, who make up the task forces and cover the community." Ambassadors then train key men 'to represent PK with men and local churches [in] prayer and in a relationship with them by phone or contact." He says PK provides no donations to local churches, but local churches "sometimes donate to Promise Keepers."

Henneman says there are different levels of key man training: "Key man level one is more or less discussing the characteristics of a man, and why a man does things, and why he's different than women, and why his feelings are certain ways versus why women feel certain ways. We talk about what the Promise Keepers vision is and goals, and how to discuss these items with other men in his church." He says key man level two training is actually showing and teaching men how to start a men's ministry and small groups.

Henneman says PK likes to have two key men in each church, sometimes three if a church is large enough. As of June 1997, he reports there were 192 key men in some 250 Upstate New York churches, with another 100 "waiting for certification." "With our relationship now with the Assemblies of God churches and a couple of other denominations that have agreements with Promise Keepers," he says, "we will be training key men in each church."

Ultimately, PK wants to have a key man in each of the nation's 400,000 churches, using the military ideas of discipline and male bonding in small groups. "The goal," says Bill McCartney, "is to go into every church whether they like us or not."

Because it's more convenient to have the small groups operate among men in the same church, Promise Keepers has gone to great lengths to solicit cooperating pastors. For example, it spent $4,609,726 in scholarships, transportation, lodging, and meals to get pastors to attend its 1996 pastors conference in Atlanta. That doesn't include the larger sum of $14,957,088 PK spent on field ministries, working with pastors and churches before, during, and after conferences. A special effort was made to pay the expenses of black pastors to and in Atlanta, according to some who were invited to a preconference breakfast in Kansas City.

McCartney's threat "to go into every church" is producing some results. One Methodist bishop told me that he did not want to oppose Promise Keepers; he wanted to work with the organization to keep men in his denomination's churches. An uninformed bishop, pastor, or layperson may see positive values in Promise Keepers. However, it's important to note that, unlike most existing denominations and churches, there is no democracy within the organization. A small group of self-appointed men in the Vineyard churches controls the entire effort, including its theology, finances, and personnel.

When I mentioned this on a radio talk show with a PK state coordinator, he denied the lack of democracy by stating that there is a Promise Keepers board of directors representing various denominations. The denominations do not elect the board members, however; they are Promise Keepers selected by the Vineyard Fellowship leaders to give the appearance of being drawn from different denominations.

Furthermore, the men behind Promise Keepers believe essentially in a theology of political power achieved through religion. This is summed up in their concept of a Christian nation led by a military messiah. As McCartney declared, when he called upon 39,000 pastors in Atlanta to "take this nation for Jesus," "whoever stands with the messiah will rule with him." And this political power is afforded to only male Christians under Vineyard Fellowship-type leaders.

The concept of a Christian nation or a theocracy ruled from the top is based on fundamentalist ideology or selected verses from the Bible which justify such rule. For example, the Jesus of the New Testament repudiated a politics of domination when he said, "You know that those who are supposed to rule over the Gentiles lord it over them and their great men exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you; for whoever would be great among you must be your servant" (Mark 10:43-44). But such teaching has no place in PK's vision of building a Christian nation.

Neither does Jesus as the "Prince of Peace," who repudiated war and armed might. The Vineyard Fellowship people, as well as other religious right leaders, have replaced him with their concept of a military messiah speaking the language of war. Promise Keepers speaks of an "army of God," while Pat Robertson's Regent's University is training people to rule until Jesus comes again. (A regent is one who rules in place of the king.)

The concept and language of war has been used by other right-wing leaders who helped PK get started, notably James Dobson of Focus on the Family and Bill Bright of Campus Crusade for Christ. Bright has had a "military ministry" to the armed forces while Dobson, in his book Children at Risk, promotes the idea of a "civil war," saying, "Bloody battles are being fought on a thousand fronts, both inside and outside the government." Except for those of the organized right-wing militias, these have largely been culture wars fought at abortion clinics by violent groups such as Operation Rescue and Missionaries for the Pre-born or by the Christian Coalition for control of government or public schools or against the secular state or homosexuals.

Now, however, there is a mass movement -- Promise Keepers -- that not only speaks of organizing an army of men but has hired retired military officers to help it organize in the armed forces. One of those officers, Richard Abel, a retired air force brigadier general, has been conducting "wake-up calls" with hundreds of active duty soldiers. Another is Jim Pack, a retired Green Beret colonel who was a psychological warfare specialist at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and is now PK manager of the Texas region. A third officer, Chuck Stecker, a retired Special Forces lieutenant colonel, has been organizing PK within the military with the aid of some military chaplains. Addressing a 1996 conference of military chaplains in Atlanta, Stecker said:

I believe with all of my heart that the

military structure that we know and love so well is perfect for

the accountable relationship which God is calling us to in

Promise Keepers. That same structure, whether it be at

the squad level for the army and right up or whether it be

at the detachment level, squadron level, and so forth, is

exactly what we need. I believe that accountable relationships

build readiness. Quite frankly, and having served in

a Ranger battalion, if a squad leader did not know where

his soldiers were, his Rangers, he was not doing his job.

And in order to be able to know those things he had to be

in accountable relationships with them in order to

develop that.

McCartney has been relating this military approach to the thousands of PK accountability groups in churches. In a 1995 Promise Keepers video entitled The Next Step: From the Stadium to the Small Group, he said, "Many of you feel like you have been in a war for a long time, yet the fiercest fighting is just ahead. God has brought us here to prepare us. Let's proceed. It's wartime." He said the clergy must become "the commissioned officers," led in effect by Promise Keepers: "We have a great army that we are assembling. They're Christian men of this nation. However, our leadership, our clergy are not in uniform. Our clergy are divided.... There's no unity of command.... There is tremendous division in our clergy. We have to assume that responsibility."

A third major facet of Promise Keepers is evident in its immediate political target. Although PK leaders have consistently denied that it has a political agenda, their various public statements and their list of enemies clearly define them as the army of the far right. For example, the single most important issue for all the far-right-wing Catholic and Protestant groups is the legal right of women to reproductive freedom. That includes access to abortion, which the far right defines as including the use of any contraceptives after intercourse that prevent implantation in the uterus.

In the July 1997 Promise Keepers News, PK doesn't blame the violent crime in the United States and high prison population on such things as drugs or a lack of job opportunities for inner city youth; rather, it points the finger at abortion. In preparing its members for the upcoming October 4 "Stand in the Gap" gathering in Washington, D.C., it states, "The legal undermining of the sanctity of human life, from the pre-born to the old and infirm, represents a rejection of America's two-century-old tenet that mankind is made in God's image, and is a repudiation of morality as a factor in court decisions." This is pure right-wing propaganda and part of PK's anti-woman philosophy. It's also no secret that McCartney has spoken to rallies held by Operation Rescue.

Of course, there is no legal or court authorization to undermine the life of the old and infirm -- now or in the past. References to this, then, are expressions of the religious right's objection to death with dignity. As for abortion, there was no law against it when the United States was formed. Such laws, when adopted in the nineteenth century, were chiefly to protect women from unsafe surgery. Moreover, there has never been legal sanctity of life in the United States -- not for Native Americans, black slaves, sweatshop workers, child laborers, wartime conscripts, unwanted immigrants, interred Japanese Americans, and various others.

Promise Keepers cannot even speak of "sanctity of life" as a biblical principle. There is no such phrase in the Bible, a book which describes children killed for the sins of the fathers and adults killed for numerous violations of Mosaic law. In the Bible, God actually orders the slaughter of thousands, including pregnant women. God even commands abortion under certain circumstances; there is no "unborn" child. Throughout the Bible, human life is defined as nephesh, or one who breathes. Furthermore, although abortion was widely practiced throughout the ancient world, no condemnation of it as sin appears in the Bible.

Yet despite all this, the July PK article blames men who "have remained idle as 34 million unborn children have been legally slain, allowing the debate to become an issue of a woman's right to choose rather than a man's responsibility to practice sexual purity." In other words, women are not created in "the image of God" with the freedom to make decisions regarding their lives, their health, and the welfare of children already born. It is men, specifically "promise keepers," who are to determine the destiny of American women.

Promise Keepers' political agenda has always called for men to make or keep women submissive to male leadership and control in the family and elsewhere. Its leaders abhor what they call the "feminization of the church." Tony Evans, one of PK's most popular speakers, tells men to reclaim their role -- without compromise -- as head of the house and tells women they should submit for "the survival of our culture."

PK's right-wing agenda, however, is not always so blatantly set forth to the men who attend the group's stadium events. On the matter of race, for example, stadium speakers use cover terms like racial reconciliation. According to Mandy Carter, field representative for the National Black Lesbian and Gay Leadership Forum, PK says "nothing about concrete measures to right the historic inequities imposed on people of color." She went on to speak about the publicized embraces by whites of blacks at stadium events: "We are concerned that Promise Keepers calls for racial harmony but does not speak to its 96 percent white membership about the racial advantage that whiteness gives them in this society. Institutionalized racism is not healed by hugs."

Carter is also concerned about the "men only" aspect of Promise Keepers. "In communities of color, survival has depended on men and women working in partnership toward a vision of self-determination and leadership," she said. Actually, in today's society, the overwhelming number of working-class families survive only because both husband and wife work outside the home and require partnership, not domination, in household activities.

Sensitive to such criticism, PK leaders have been talking recently about men "serving" their families, but they have not changed their patriarchal emphasis or their determination to prevent equal rights for women. A good illustration of this is the way they solicit support from and pander to male pastors while excluding women pastors from clergy events.

Instead of insisting on an equal participation of women and men in the family, Promise Keepers uses gimmicks at stadium events to indicate that, while men remain in charge, they also serve. In Buffalo this past June, PK arranged for a Des Moines, Iowa, psychologist to wash the feet of his wife and two daughters on stage. That event, which is not likely to be repeated frequently in Buffalo homes, was publicized in the Buffalo News. The local newspaper, however, ignored a warning by the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence -- which represents more than thirteen hundred battered women's groups as well as state domestic violence and sexual assault coalitions -- that PK's emphasis on men regaining `rightful' control of the family" threatens to undermine "years of hard work to change outdated laws and social attitudes." One conference speaker, the Reverend David Castro, did make passing mention of such issues in his altar call for the confession of sexual "sin," but there was no significant emphasis or subsequent media notice.

In Buffalo and at other stadium events, sex was promoted as one of the leading problems facing men, and this theme was reiterated throughout PK conferences and materials. Sex has always been profitable, either as an industry or as a means for frightening people into joining some moralistic movement. And Promise Keepers is certainly making its money. It not only charges fees of $60 to $70 to enter a stadium event but sells books, tapes, clothing, food, and other items. In the public inspection copy of its 1996 Internal Revenue tax return, PK lists $16,413,431 as gross sales of such inventory and a total revenue of $87,419,179. Savings and cash investments are shown at $8,309,138 and inventories it could sell at $4,187,354. A few of its leaders made salaries over $80,000. Its president received $132,512 plus benefits and expenses.

As a nonprofit organization, PK claims that none of its funds are used, directly or indirectly, for political purposes. But, this only means that it has not engaged in partisan politics or the support of candidates; it does not mean that it refrains from taking stands on or promoting positions on issues like abortion, homosexuality, and related far-right hot buttons.

In fact, PK's stadium speakers, in their own low-key way, condemn various political practices. And its big financial backers include such right-wing political activists as former presidential candidate Pat Robertson, Focus on the Family's James Dobson, the Family Research Council's Gary Bauer, and religious right media mogul Stephen Strang, while former Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson media adviser Mark Demoss -- whose family's foundation pours millions of dollars into right-wing causes -- serves as PK's national spokesperson. CEO Bill McCartney served on the board of directors of the homophobic Colorado for Family Values and was quoted in the July 28, 1994, Boulder Camera as saying, "We will not compromise. Wherever truth is at risk, in the schools or legislatures, we are going to contend for it." And no group marches on the nation's capital -- as Promise Keepers plans to do this fall with up to one million men -- without a political agenda. As "Stand in the Gap" organizer Raleigh Washington said, "There's no way the group can restrict itself when it comes to public policy. We are producing leaders in this organization. They will enter the political sphere."

In any appraisal of Promise Keepers, it is essential to note that many fundamentalists and evangelical Christians do not approve of the group. In a recent resolution, the Fellowship of Fundamental Bible Churches said, "Promise Keepers' teachings are a strange mixture of truth and error. Its methods for promoting those teachings are questionable." It urged Christians "to be wise, to be warned, and to beware of this false movement."

European writer Jewel van der Merwe asks:

Is Promise Keepers creating a new folk religion? The large

mass rallies, the exaltation of emotion over reason, the

lack of doctrinal integrity, the taking of oaths [the seven

promises PK men are told to keep], the focus on

fatherland and fatherhood, and the ecumenical inclusion o

aberrant esoteric doctrines, bears a disconcerting 

similarity to an era which gave rise to one of the most

dreadful armies in history.

Criticism of Promise Keepers is increasing, but almost all appears in the alternative press like The Humanist, the Nation, and a few religious journals. Even so, the word is getting out. As a result of the growing criticism, PK is experiencing financial difficulties. Stadium events are not as well attended as in previous years. In Buffalo, 30,000 to 40,000 men were expected, but PK reported only 20,000 in attendance. In Chicago, only about 22,000 attended the PK conference at Soldier Field; in Kansas City, Missouri, attendance was only 38,000; and in Denver -- PK's home base -- attendance estimates were down 11,000 to 20,000 from what had been expected. In addition, PK's Shea Stadium conference in New York -- scheduled to precede October's march on Washington-was cancelled.

On another front, the July 1, 1997, Denver Post reported that Promise Keepers announced widespread cutbacks and is laying off paid staff at all levels. In the article, McCartney calls the cutbacks "painful" but gives no figures. (As of July, PK said it had 452 full-time staff and an estimated annual budget of $87 million, which is lower than outside estimates but $10 million less than PK's own figures for 1996.)

The "official" explanation for the difficulties is that PK followers are saving their money to attend "Stand in the Gap." However, some critics say PK's call for "racial reconciliation" may be causing problems. Others believe many men are being turned off by the expectations PK has for long-term recruits.

Whatever the explanation, Promise Keepers is still one of the most formidable religious right-wing groups to watch. The danger to America is not from majority acceptance of this movement but from public apathy and the media's acceptance of its publicity handouts. Any disciplined religious movement can exercise control over government and social organizations if people do not expose it, organize counter movements, and educate their fellow citizens about the importance of separation of church and state. Freedom of and freedom from religion are dependent upon a secular -- not a theocratic -- state.

The Seven Promises of a Promise Keeper

1. A Promise Keeper is committed to honoring

Jesus Christ through worship, prayer, and

obedience to God's Word in the power of the

Holy Spirit. 2. A Promise Keeper is committed to pursuing

vital relationships with a few other men,

understanding that he needs brothers to help

him keep his promises. 3. A Promise Keeper is commited to practicing

spiritual, moral, ethical, and sexual purity. 4. A Promise Keeper is committed to building

strong marriages and families through love,

protection, and biblical values. 5. A Promise Keeper is committed to supporting

the mission of his church by honoring and

praying for his pastor, and by actively giving

his time and resources. 6. A Promise Keeper is committed to reaching

beyond any racial and denominational

barriers to demonstrate the power of biblical

unity. 7. A Promise Keeper is committed to influencing

his world, being obedient to the Great

Commandment (see Mark 12:30-31) and the

Great Commission (see Matthew 28:19-20).

The Christian Right Regroups

As we approach the 1998 elections, political pundits and commentators are already making their predictions as to who will be the winners and who will be the losers, based on their analyses of the 1996 general election. Many pundits agree that the Christian right figured heavily in the 1996 defeat of presidential hopeful Robert Dole. They also point to the resignation of Ralph Reed as head of the Christian Coalition and the sale of Pat Robertson's share of the Family Network as further proof that the Christian right is losing its effectiveness in national-level politics.

Recent events, however, suggest that the right is merely reconfiguring its political strategy, with the 1998 elections as its first major target. The Family Network sale for $1.9 billion allows Robertson to cash out at a relatively high premium for his investment in the telecommunications business, thus allowing him to focus his energies on more time-sensitive objectives. More importantly, the money from the sale can be used to fund right-wing political activities and perhaps lessen the negative image the Christian Coalition has with a growing number of voters.

One such activity could be in the form of backing the Promise Keepers' "Stand in the Gap" march on Washington, D.C., slated for this October. The event, sponsored by the fundamentalist men's ministry, has been compared to Louis Farrakhan's Million Man March -- only this time the goal is to galvanize and cement the convictions of the Christian right with a key constituency: disaffected white males who played a crucial role in electing Republicans in the 1996 general election.

The Christian right can also take advantage of the sentiment expressed at the recent Southern Baptist Convention. Representing one of the largest denominations in the United States, Southern Baptists passed resolutions condemning Disney for what was called its pro-homosexual social agenda, along with several resolutions supporting the posting of the Ten Commandments in public buildings and the passage of a Religious Liberty Amendment to the Constitution in order -- they said -- to save the Judeo-Christian heritage of America. The Christian right registers its greatest strength in the South. If it can reignite its constituency there -- in particular, states such as Arkansas and Kentucky where Democratic senators are retiring -- then the goal of achieving a veto-proof Republican majority in the Senate and, thereby, advancing the Christian right agenda, will be one step closer.

Such an achievement would be a great prize toward the right's campaign to institutionalize such issues as public aid for religious schools and prayer in public schools and to destroy the freedoms gained in such areas as abortion and affirmative action. No, the Christian right has not given up the fight; it's just realigning its troops in preparation for different battles.

Promise Keepers' Growth Ministry

Year Staff Stadium Event Attendance Budget

1993 22 50,000 at one stadium $4 million 1994 150 278,600 at seven stadiums $26 million 1995 300 727,342 at thirteen stadiums $64 million 1996 360 1,100,000 at twenty-two stadiums $97 million 1997 452 1,250,000 at twenty-four stadiums $87 million

and march on Washington (estimated) (estimated)