From: Interfaith Working Group Subject: IWG Daily News Promise Keepers Coverage Letter Date: Sun, 18 Jan 1998 22:37:31 -0500 (EST) The following went out on IWG letterhead listing 12 congregations and organizations and 54 clergy from 15 religious traditions. If you are in the general Philadelphia area and represent a congregation or religious organization or are clergy, let us know if you want to be added - all faiths are welcome. We will also be happy to help start similar organizations in other areas. January 16, 1997 Philadelphia Daily News PO Box 7788 Phila., PA 19101 Dear Editors: We were surprised that Ron Goldwyn's article about the Promise Keeper's rally and the press conference held by Equal Partners in Faith concentrated on and oversimplified the question of racial reconciliation. Promise Keepers may have helped conservative Christian men make friendships across racial lines, which is a good and socially useful thing. That, however, was not the question that was raised at the press conference or by other critics of the Promise Keepers' leadership. The questions that have been raised are whether an organization that claims to fight racism is actually doing anything to eliminate institutionalized racial inequality; whether the policies favored by the political organizations and individuals with which the Promise Keepers leadership are associated are helping or hindering economic equality for racial minorities; and whether absolving white Christian men of atrocities such as slavery and the holocaust or referring to slavery as "redemptive" is either helpful or appropriate. Race was not the only issue raised at the press conference. Promise Keepers unabashedly concentrates on gender roles and male superiority; the leadership of the organization has a history of conservative political activity; they may have a potentially disastrous long-term effect on local churches which have men's groups answering to an outside organization; and they have demonstrated an unsatisfactory level of respect for those of minority faiths and sexual orientations. As long as the Promise Keepers movement attempts to organize in local churches, people of faith with differing opinions will voice their concerns, whether those attending Promise Keepers' events think those concerns are "bogus" or not. Sincerely, Barbara Purdom Christopher Purdom Interfaith Working Group Coordinators -- Interfaith Working Group Religious organizations, congregations iwg@libertynet.org and clergy supporting gay rights, http://www.libertynet.org/~iwg/ reproductive freedom, and the 215-235-3050 separation of church and state.