Michelle, I am not really that familiar with the promise keepers as a group or their leadership. However, I have heard a few of their spokesman on talk radio describe the groups mission. Here's what I have heard.
They seek to not be affiliated with any political group or constituency. And rewaken in men the sacred trust to their families. It seems to me a noble thing to aspire to. It's no secret that statistically children are far more likely to get in trouble with the law, or make wrong decisions at a young age when raised without the influence of a father in the home.
As far as your assertion that the group is trying to tell other people how to live their lives. I suppose in a sense you're right. They appear to want men to support their families if they divorce, and to do everything in their power to create an environment in the home where divorce and violence doesn't happen. I would much rather see a private organization trying to influence cultural issues like these, then the government doing it through laws. Besides, don't we all try and tell other people how to live their lives in one way or another? It seems to me it's just a matter of degrees and how you go about it that differs.
Some people want me to recycle everything, some to teach acceptance of homosexuality, some to love the environment instead of God, Jesus or the family. And on and on...
A couple of years ago I remember the promise keepers had a big march or rally in Washington D.C. The press was completely biased in the negative regarding nearly everything about the organization. That tells me the organization is probably on to something decent. Whenever the liberal mainstream press is so biased against an organization, I immediately start wondering why? In this case, would it perhaps have something to do with taking power away from Washington and putting it into the hands of ordinary Americans? After all, if we had more in-tack families, we wouldn't need as many government food stamp and day-care programs would we? The big secret, no one wants to say, is one of the largest determinants to poverty and low educational achievements, is a broken family, where kids are raised without a father.
I don't know how accurate it is, but I once read a study done of prison inmates and something like 90% were raised without a male father influence in the home. Why we fail as a society to recognize this link, and try to do something about it, is not logical to me.
This in no way mitigates the tremendous job many single parent women are doing. It simply recognizes how the odds are stacked against them being successful when left alone.
Michael |
