Among the Promise Keepers

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The unmoving line of cars ahead of me must extend all the way to the gates of heaven. At least it seems that way. It's 9 o'clock on a Saturday morning in October, I've just hit a freeway ramp traffic jam at the Texas Stadium exit, and from the looks of things I ought to be inside for the second day of the event by, oh, around noon.

On the radio I hear that chant: 'We love Jesus, yes we do...' I park my car and walk the half-mile to the stadium. Surveying the scene outside, I notice that there are no protesters. No message-toting airplane circling the stadium. Well, there are two signs: I NEED TICKETS, held by a guy who looks like he thinks he's outside a Dead show, and MEN OF GOD: I NEED A JOB, held by a neatly dressed black man of 40 or so who is offered encouragement by men in the passing, mostly white, crowd.

In the parking lots nearest the main stadium gates are a few large tents -- one for registration (a surprisingly reasonable $55, including two meals), one for dispensing literature about related organizations (Christian Men's Network, Focus on the Family, etc.), one for selling Promise Keepers books and merchandise. These tents and other projects of the day -- such as setting up 45,000 box lunches -- are being run almost exclusively by women. 'We're all here as volunteers supporting this ministry and the men in our lives,' says the middle-aged woman behind the cash register. 'I'm here with my husband. This is his second event, and after the last one he was a changed person. Attentive. Positive attitude. Closer to God. So I'm happy to help an organization that has had such a positive effect on our marriage.'

As I finally enter the stadium, Christian Men's Network president Edwin Cole steps to the microphone and launches into a fire-and-brimstone sermon preaching celibacy until marriage. For a while Cole sounds -- dare I say it? -- positively feminist as he talks about how respect for women is lost when a man is pursuing sex without love. Then, suddenly, per Cole's request, dozens of young men all around the stadium are standing to take a vow of chastity, and nearby men are moving closer to them to lay a hand of support on their bodies, all heads nodded in prayer.

The only overtly political statement of the weekend comes in the conference's very first speech, by pastor Greg Laurie. 'When a man makes a promise to his wife -- a marriage vow -- and doesn't keep it, he is teaching her not to trust him,' he says. 'And isn't it true that we have a problem like this with some of our leaders today?' Wild applause. 'I see some of you are ahead of me,' says Laurie with a smile.

That shared humor at the president's expense reveals something about these men that I have trouble overlooking: When push comes to shove, these and the thousands of other Promise Keepers are likely to pull voting-booth levers to abolish abortion or curtail gay rights. Ultimately, these men are a voting block -- an evangelical Christian voting block.

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