Montana Native American Speaks at Promise Keepers Rally

On October 4, men from around the nation gathered in Washington D.C. to "Stand in the Gap."   This reference to an obscure military campaign in the Old Testament (not a clothing store) was the theme of the Promise Keepers' gathering at the Mall in Washington D.C. The leaders of the fundamentalist Christian men's movement have been heavily criticized by women's groups and others who watch the right wing for denying their obvious conservative political agenda, for advocating the submission of women, and for their anti-gay stance. At the rally, pleas for men to assume their rightful place as leaders were accompanied with calls for racial reconciliation.
Prior to the event, Al Henry, Montana state coordinator for Promise Keepers, estimated about 700 Montana men would make the trip. Those who could not make it to D.C. were hooked via satellite with their fellow Promise Keepers in churches around the state. Henry said 11 of the attendees would be Native American pastors or lay leaders.
One of those was Art BeGay of Columbia Falls, who runs Warriors for Christ Ministry. BeGay spoke and played his flute for the opening ceremonies at the D.C. rally. He describes Warriors for Christ as an evangelical ministry that travels primarily to Indian communities around the country. The office and home church is at the Hungry Horse Chapel in Hungry Horse, MT. Begay has spoken at other Promise Keepers events around the country and says that while the ministry has no official relationship with Promise Keepers, "something may be on the drawing board in the future."
BeGay speaks freely about the irony between his religious and political associations and his Indian identity. "If there is a group that seems to understand Native Americans, it is the liberals, or progressives," he told the Network. "I have mixed feelings there since [Clinton] supports abortion and homosexuals, yet conservatives never give validity to the Native voice."
At the huge rally in Washington, there were other Native American speakers from around the country. In fact, as part of the theme of racial reconciliation, the mostly white organizers labeled Native Americans as host people for the Stand-in-the-Gap Rally. It is not clear what that designation meant, other than individual Indians appeared early in the rally, right after the Messianic Jews.
This prominent role for Native Americans and other minorities is part of a larger strategy to recruit racial minorities to Promise Keepers using the language of racial reconciliation.   Promise Keepers' idea of racial reconciliation focuses on white men developing a personal relationship with men of color within the Christian faith. Promise number six of the seven promises of a Promise Keeper is to "reach beyond racial and denominational barriers to demonstrate the power of biblical unity." Few references are made to social justice, equality, tribal sovereignty, the history of mistreatment, or institutionalized racism. According to Promise Keepers President Randy Phillips, "The goal is not integration. The goal is reconciling through relationships."
Loretta Williams, a sociologist at Boston University says it clearly:

At the Promise Keepers rallies, white men are not asked to assume any responsibility for past or present injustices. They are asked, instead, to befriend a man of color. To hug him. The man of color, in turn, is expected to ignore the close ties between the Promise Keepers and the broader Christian Right, a movement actively working against affirmative action and other programs designed to redress discrimination.

Frederick Clarkson, author of Eternal Hostilities: The Struggle Between Democracy and Theocracy, cited the example of Tom Claus, a Mohawk evangelist, which drives this message home. In a 1996 Promise Keepers' rally in Syracuse, New York, Claus, "wearing a full headdress, declared that despite the history of broken treaties and genocide against Native American peoples, he does not hate white men because white men brought him to Jesus and he would ‘rather have Jesus than all the land in the U.S.'"
When asked about this, Art BeGay made it clear that Claus, "a fifth-generation Christian" had upset many Native Americans with his comments. BeGay explains it by saying "there is a certain irony. If a Native Christian shares his heart," says BeGay, "he has the same feelings as a non-Christian Indian. But a non-Christian says it with bitterness."

Brotherly Love

Another Montanan who was reportedly on his way to the Promise Keepers' rally was a gay evangelical from a small community.* He says his Promise Keepers brothers "would fight for me in any situation. They could see how important it was for me to express myself openly in an evangelical setting. And once they got beyond the biblical argument, they were able to see me as a person and love me for who I am."
Unfortunately, the leaders of Promise Keepers do not show the same sort of openness toward gays that this man experiences among the members. Author Frederick Clarkson points out that founder Bill McCartny and other leaders of Promise Keepers "represent a dangerous threat to civil rights of gays and lesbians. That is not to say that Promise Keepers have a formal policy towards gays and lesbians, or that all Promise Keepers share the ideology of Promise Keepers' leadership."
The actions of the leadership speak volumes about the underlying political agenda of Promise Keepers. Rev. James Ryle, McCartney's personal pastor and board member of Promise Keepers, participated in a secret 1994 conference to plan anti-gay electoral strategies in Colorado. McCartney himself campaigned for Colorado's Amendment 2, which would have barred local civil rights ordinances protecting gays and lesbians.
According to Political Research Associates, "Promise Keepers claims to be apolitical, yet its closest supporters come from Christian Right organizations such as Focus on the Family and the Ramily Research Council. These groups are the architects of profound attacks on lesbians, gay men, and bisexuals."

*Because we are aware of the violence gay men face in Montana, perpetuated by Christian Right activists, we have omitted the man's name and place of residence.