Promises, Promises

Tue, 30 Sep 1997 09:55:00 +0000

All in all, it wasn't an ideal spot for a feminist frontline
in the culture wars. At 11 a.m. Saturday, Patricia Ireland and a
few dozen supporters of the National Organization for Women
planted themselves in a triangular island of green near the U.S.
Capitol, on an entrance route to "Stand in the Gap," the colossal
prayer meeting of the all-male, born-again Christian group, the
Promise Keepers. While feminists and a small group of atheists
chanted and waved posters -- "Stupidity is Not a Family Value,"
"Lions Yes, Christians No," "PK [Promise Keepers] is not
PC," -- wave upon wave of men, Baptists from Brooklyn, N.Y.,
Pentecostals from cornfield Indiana, Christian Motorcycle
Association members from Texas and Godly Men of Pittsburgh solemnly
washed past them toward the Washington Monument, kited
out with Bibles and coolers and lawn chairs and PK baseball caps
for a long day's prostration before the Lord. The "guys," as leader Bill
McCartney calls them, had
been up all night singing on buses and praying at rest stops
across the country. It was a hot and sunny day, with a huge blue sky, and they
were bleary-eyed and reverential and
uninterested in confrontation. The one exception was a lone
bearded dude in a cowboy hat with a leather chin strap, straight
out of central casting, who paced the sidewalk shouting things
like: "Jesus will set you free from the vile infections of one
another!"

Salon.com > Art Allen

Promises, Promises