A USA Today columnist has called for a Promise Keepers men’s conference, scheduled for July at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, to be canceled due to the CEO’s Biblical beliefs on sexuality.
The columnist, Mike Freeman, argued that by allowing the event to take place at the AT&T Stadium, the Dallas Cowboys “are helping to mainstream hate speech.”
Freeman was referring to remarks made by Promise Keepers’ CEO Ken Harrison on Steve Bannon’s podcast “Real America’s Voice.”
“One of the things [those from the progressive left are] doing to make their agenda happen is destroying the identity of the American people,” Harrison said when asked what Promise Keepers is fighting for and why people should attend the July conference. “If they can get Christians, especially Christian men, to sit down, be silent and be passive, then they can be effective.
“And it’s working,” he admitted. “Christian men are not standing up for what’s right. I mean, you think about how quickly we went from homosexual marriage to men putting on dresses, being called women, and playing on women’s basketball teams. Where are the Christian men?
“So what we need to do is call men back and remind us of who we are in Christ,” Harrison continued. “We are all sinners, we’ve all done bad things. But through the grace of Christ, He forgives us. So we can get out of this complacency that we’re in, and start living for what God has made us to be, which is sons of God.”
Founded in 1990 by Coach Bill McCartney, Promise Keepers’ mission is to encourage men to fulfill their roles as “godly husbands, fathers and leaders.”
But Freeman argues that “comments like Harrison’s shouldn’t be anywhere near an NFL team. A company like AT&T shouldn’t be associated with them, either.”
In a later email interview with USA Today Sports, Harrison was asked if he regretted making those comments.
“Look, today’s culture is blurring the lines when it comes to sexual identity,” Harrison responded. “Both Promise Keepers and I subscribe to a Biblical worldview when it comes to male and female, and that’s one of the religious freedoms we celebrate in our nation. Sometimes we agree with culture, and sometimes we don’t.”
Addressing the accusation that he spread hate speech, Harrison said: “The irony of defining my words as hate speech is that is exactly the opposite of what we teach. All people everywhere are welcome to come to our rally to celebrate and be unified around the fact that God forgives the sins of all who believe in Jesus.”
Franklin Graham called the situation just another example of cancel culture.
“The Promise Keepers organization and events have had a great reputation of encouraging men from a Biblical perspective for over 30 years,” he posted to Facebook. “Eighty thousand men are planning to attend a live Promise Keepers event in Dallas in July. This USA Today writer thinks that the AT&T Stadium shouldn’t be associated with Promise Keepers and that the organization shouldn’t be ‘anywhere near an NFL team’ because of their Biblical stand on sexual identity and marriage being defined as between a man and a woman. This is the cancel culture speaking. The issue is religious freedom. This event is not ‘anti-trans hate’ as it is being described, but rather the freedom to believe, share, study and celebrate Biblical truth in love.”
Above: Inside AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
Photo: Robert Harding / Alamy Stock Photo