Promise Keepers | Research & Encyclopedia Articles

Public gatherings promoting spiritual revivalism have been a distinctive feature of American religious life since the frontier camp meetings of the early nineteenth century. During the 1990s, a new and controversial expression of this tradition of public revivalism emerged in the activities of the Promise Keepers, a Christian men's organization devoted to restoring conservative family values to American society. Through large outdoor rallies, often held in football stadiums and drawing tens of thousands of participants at a time, the Promise Keepers spread their message of male responsibility and family leadership to millions of American men. The group's name derivesfrom its members' pledge to maintain an active Christian life, to build strong families and marriages, to seek moral and ethical purity, and to associate with other men who have made the same commitments. The Promise Keepers' insistence on male leadership of the family has produced considerable opposition among feminists, who see the group as a threat to women's equality. Moderates and liberals have also criticized the group for their conservative stance on politically charged social issues like abortion and gay rights. The controversies surrounding the Promise Keepers reflect the ongoing conflict between religious tradition and secular trends within American culture.

The Promise Keepers movement was founded in 1990 by Bill McCartney, a former football coach at the University of Colorado. It began as a local fellowship led by McCartney and other members of the Vineyard Church, a conservative, charismatic group with a strong emphasis on evangelism. By stressing discipline and male bonding, the organization provided support for members trying to lead an exemplary Christian life. The group's leaders also sought to extend its message of religious renewal across denominational boundaries, and so began staging large public rallies to attract new members. Centering on sermons, hymns, prayer, and mutual support, these exclusively male rallies attracted several million participants during the 1990s, and helped to spread the movement across the United States. The Promise Keepers' largest and most widely publicized rally, held on October 4, 1997, attracted 700,000 men to the Mall in Washington, D.C. Through the success of their public rallies, the Promise Keepers also established a network of thousands of local support groups, led by specially trained leaders or "key men," whose members monitored one another's observance of the organization's principles.

To its supporters, drawn largely from conservative Protestant churches, the Promise Keepers represented a necessary response to moral decay and the decline of the American family. The organization also found many critics, however, among feminists, political moderates and liberals, and mainstream religious leaders. The Promise Keepers' emphasis on the need for male-headed households struck many as an antiquated commitment to patriarchal families and an attack on women's rights. Critics also faulted the group for its ties to the new religious right and that movement's conservative social agenda. The Promise Keepers denied the existence of such ties, but McCartney himself was a featured speaker at meetings of the militant anti-abortion group Operation Rescue, and he publicly supported aColorado constitutional amendment limiting the legal recourse available to homosexuals subjected to discrimination in housing or employment. Critics also challenged the Promise Keepers' avowed commitment to racial reconciliation, arguing that the group did little to support concrete efforts to promote political, social, or economic equality for racial minorities.

By the late 1990s, attendance at the Promise Keepers' rallies had begun to decline and financial difficulties led the organization to reduce the size of its paid staff and the scope of its activities. Both critics and supporters questioned the organization's ability to survive in its existing form. During its initial period of growth, however, it had a significant impact on American society by sustaining the resurgence of religious conservatism that had started in the 1970s. In its concern with male responsibility and authority, the Promise Keepers movement also focused attention on the persisting differences of opinion within American society regarding gender roles and family structure, decades after the start of the women's movement.

Abraham, Ken. Who Are the Promise Keepers? New York, Doubleday, 1997.

Kintz, Linda. Between Jesus and the Market: The Emotions That Matter in Right-Wing America. Durham, North Carolina, Duke University Press, 1997.

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