Who:

• Patricia Ireland, NOW President
• Al Ross, Center for Democracy Studies
• Eleanor Smeal, Feminist Majority
• Mandy Carter, Equal Partners in Faith
• Pamela Coukos, National Coalition Against Domestic Violence
• Representative from the Human Rights Campaign
• Frederick Clarkson, author of Eternal Hostility: The Struggle Between Theocracy and Democracy
• Other feminist leaders

When:
Saturday, October 4, 11:00 am

Where:
Grassy Triangle bounded by 1st Street, Constitution Ave. and Louisiana Ave., NW (Across the street from the Capitol and the Promise Keepers rally)

"Promise Keeper leaders say they're encouraging men to take responsibility, but they're really exhorting men to take control," said NOW President Patricia Ireland. "Their literature and their rhetoric call for an authoritarian, theocratic society where Christian men control everything, including women."

Ireland and other NOW leaders challenged Promise Keepers to agree to a New Promise. "If the Promise Keepers are truly committed to being responsible men, let them promise to respect women's equality," Ireland said.

Calling the Promise Keepers the third wave of the religious right, Ireland said, "Make no mistake: the Promise Keepers are political. And they aim to build a network of radical right religious activists whose goal is the submission of women to male authority."

Link to this release at http://www.now.org/press/10-97/10-02-97.html.

"Don't you understand mister, you are royalty and God has chosen you to be the priest of your home?" Tony Evans, co-editor of Seven Promises of a Promise Keeper in The Progressive, August 1996.

"I want to boldly affirm Uncle Tom. The black community must stop criticizing Uncle Tom. He is a role model." Wellington Boone, editorial board member of New Man, the Promise Keepers' official magazine, in Breaking Through, p. 77.

Abortion has become "a second Civil War." Bill McCartney, founder of Promise Keepers, in the Denver Post, February 11, 1992.

"There is no way the group can restrict itself when it comes to public policy. We are producing leaders in this organization. They will enter the public sphere." Raleigh Washington, organizer of Stand in the Gap rally, in the Dallas Observer, November 14, 1996.

"I am not suggesting you ask for your role back, I'm urging you to take it back. . . there can be no compromise here. If you're going to lead, you must lead." Tony Evans, co-editor of Seven Promises of a Promise Keeper in "Spiritual Purity" chapter of Seven Promises of a Promise Keeper, p. 79-80.

"The demise of our community and culture is the fault of sissified men who have been overly influenced by women." Tony Evans, co-editor of Seven Promises of a Promise Keeper in The Progressive, August 1996.

"We will not compromise. Whenever the truth is at risk, in the schools or legislature, we are going to contend for it. We will win." Bill McCartney, founder of Promise Keepers in Freedom Writer, September 1996.

"Homosexuality is an abomination of Almighty God." Bill McCartney, founder of Promise Keepers, in the Denver Post, February 11, 1992.

"The only way God can be worshiped is through Jesus Christ. There is no other way." Bill McCartney, founder of Promise Keepers in Time Magazine October 6, 1997.

"Take back the nation for Christ." Bill McCartney, founder of Promise Keepers at a 1992 rally in Boulder CO, quoted in Church and State Magazine, May 1995.

"We're raising our children at a time when it's an effeminate society. It's not the proper climate." Bill McCartney, founder of Promise Keepers in The Progressive, August 1996.