Guest Post by Morbo
The evangelical men’s group Promise Keepers was a big deal in the 1990s. Tens of thousands of men regularly gathered in football stadiums for rallies. In 1997, the group held a meeting on the National Mall called “Stand in the Gap.” It’s estimated that one million men attended.
What is Promise Keepers up to these days? Not so much, it seems. The Washington Times reported recently that some attendees of the 1997 event wanted to commemorate it with a 10-year anniversary gathering this fall. Promise Keepers was not really interested, so a coalition of evangelical groups is proceeding on its own.
Reported The Times:
Promise Keepers remains based in Denver, but since 1997 has gone through major changes, including significant financial losses, layoffs and the resignation of its president, Bill McCartney, in 2003. It now is concentrating on smaller-scale events.
These guys were supposed to be the third wave of the Religious Right. They were supposed to usher in a new revival that would sweep the land — one led by upstanding, God-fearing men who would put feminists in their place and help men take back their rightful places in family life and society.
What happened? I don’t know for sure, but I have some ideas.
Promise Keeper rallies were a great emotional blast for many of the men who attended. Within the safe confines of the stadium, men cried, hugged one another, danced and sang. They got high on their brotherhood in Jesus.
But for most men, that attitude was impossible to take out into the real world of dog-eat-dog office politics, traffic jams and the daily grind. The emotional blast did not last, and many men did not feel like going back to the stadium for a recharge.
I also think the group’s obsession with sex had something to do with its decline. It’s not too much to ask a married man to remain faithful, but Promise Keepers’ view is that any sex outside of marriage is wrong. (And of course, the group is anti-gay.) Most young men don’t find this to be a particularly attractive concept. A study released by the Guttmacher Institute last year found that 95 percent of Americans have sex before marriage.
Finally, one of the core beliefs of Promise Keepers — that men have somehow been usurped from their rightful place in this world — is so obviously bogus that it could not be sustained. One look at the worlds of politics, industry and finance debunks it handily.
I have no problem with men getting together to pray or support one another. But Promise Keepers also had a larger vision of how households — and indeed society — should be run. That vision came from Norman Rockwell paintings and an idealized version of America in the 1950s. Some men might have found this vision comforting. Many others see it as unrealistic, uninspiring and uninteresting.