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Promise Keepers declares it has no political agenda. Nevertheless, it makes no attempt to hide its allies on the religious right. As early as 1992, when the group was without a constituency or a mailing list, it received $10,000 in critical assistance from James Dobson, a psychologist and Christian activist who produces the most widely heard Christian daily radio program and is closely allied with the influential religious right Family Research Council lobby in Washington. Since then, Dobson has given Promise Keepers strategic publicity on his radio show, has spoken at a 1993 Promise Keepers rally in Boulder, Colo., and has written a chapter in the group's guidebook. Dobson's organization has published Promise Keepers' books and materials. Similarly Pat Robertson, the former presidential candidate and Christian Coalition head, has long been a Promise Keepers supporter, spreading the word about "Stand in the Gap" on his TV show. Promise Keepers' president Randy Phillips says, "Neither Dobson nor Robertson has any impact on Promise Keepers' planning, strategy or message development."
Promise Keepers founder McCartney, 57, is without doubt deeply conservative. As head football coach for the University of Colorado, McCartney had mandatory pre-game prayer, for which he was attacked by the American Civil Liberties Union. In 1989 he caused an uproar at the university when he addressed a pro-life rally. The college was infuriated again in 1992 when McCartney announced support for Amendment 2, which barred certain gay-rights laws in Colorado. He has also said, "The only way God can be worshipped is through Jesus Christ. There is no other way."
His group does not take an official position on abortion, but McCartney personally attacks the issue with fervor. "Abortion is a violation of the heart of God," he says. "That's a human life. It's precious to God, created in his image, and potentially that life will carry the very Spirit of God." The view has shown up in the official Promise Keeper News. Its July issue describes the current era as a time of "crisis" for the nation: "The legal undermining of the sanctity of human life, from the preborn to the old and infirm, represents a rejection of America's two-century-old tenet that mankind is made in God's image and is a repudiation of morality as a factor in court decisions."
At the helm of Promise Keepers, McCartney has toned down some of his rhetoric. But part of what concerns NOW and other opponents is not what Promise Keepers' leaders say but what they fail to say. The group's mission is vague and unsettling regarding its relationships with women. It calls for men to take "spiritual leadership" over their wives, for example, and suggests that women follow. Feminists say this is a throwback to the days of women's servitude and oppression. Says NOW president Patricia Ireland: "Two adults standing as equals and peers taking responsibility for their family is a much different image than the man being the head and master, and women being back in an old role that historically was very detrimental."