At last Saturday's rally of the Promise Keepers, nonwhite representation was estimated at up to one in five in a crowd of more than 500,000. Amidst bold proclamations about ending racism in the church by the year 2000, it was clear that Promise Keepers is not only going out of its way to make reconciliation a priority, but it has linked Christian revival in the U.S. to reconciliation.

"Denominational and racial division is what has kept the church of Jesus Christ from growing," says Rev. Raleigh Washington, an African-American who is the Promise Keepers' vice president of racial reconciliation. "What is going to give credibility to the Gospel's truth is our ability to love one another despite our differences."

That statement, and the number of nonwhites who have joined Promise Keepers, may signal the forging of a genuine multiethnic spiritual coalition. Today, public repentance -- like John Dawson, an evangelical leader kneeling before Saturday's national TV audience asking forgiveness from his "African-American brothers" for racism -- is almost the rule at evangelical prayer meetings.

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It's the Cornerstone '96 Festival, a four-day concert held here in early July -- another example of American evangelicalism's determination to co-opt any subculture and infuse it with its own brand of conservative Christianity.

Now in its 13th year, this surreal, PG-rated forerunner to
Lollapalooza keeps growing in popularity. At least a half-dozen similar concerts -- Creation in rural Pennsylvania, Tom Fest in Portland, Ore., Fishnet in rural Virginia -- promise to draw over 50,000 young people, potential converts all, before the end of the summer.

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