A million men can't be wrong, right?

Wildcat File Photo Arizona Daily Wildcat Brad Wallace

The fact that I'm a rip-roaring atheist and he's Christian has never caused us any grief, except shared grief that one of us is going to be wrong and in for a hell of a surprise.

So, the Promise Keepers came to town with their male-centered brand of Christianity, and he went. On paper, and on the Net, the Promise Keepers look about as respectable as any religious group can: They're more than seven years old now and "Coach Mac" (as they call Bill McCartney, the founder of the Promise Keepers) has led over 2 million men to stadiums across the world. Their belief code is seven simple tenets, all fairly in line with mainstream Christianity. Also, they emphasize the importance of fellowshipping with different cultures, and even invite homosexuals to attend their conferences.

They even sell T-shirts for kids with slogans like "My Dad is a Promise Keeper."

I looked at a program that my roomie brought back, and it was full of enraptured men, sons and fathers hugging and a few pages of inspirational material that seemed absolutely benign. The Promise Keepers appear to be about as insidious as the Girl Scouts.

Nonetheless, this wacko atheist liberal nutcase is scared out of his mind by the whole thing.

The catch is that the Promise Keepers are dedicated to "orthodox" Christianity, which happens to include the belief that men should have dominion over women due to the holy and revelatory power of their testicles. Of course, the Promise Keepers describe their mission as learning to "love and honor" women, because "barefoot and pregnant" doesn't look quite as sharp in promotional materials.

I am horrified that an ex-football coach has managed to start a powerful and influential movement that is directly interested in undoing whatever slim progress that women have made in the last century. The fact that millions of men are crying for a return to orthodoxy simply illustrates how shallow and limited our nation's dedication to sexual equality is.

We're due for a conservative backlash: The economy is finally beginning to implode and Clinton has managed to ruin all hope for another Democrat president any time soon. It is entirely plausible that the Promise Keepers and related groups will only become wildly successful in the climate of fear and uncertainty the next few years promise.

Those cute coffee mugs that read "Promise Keeping is Way Cool" might become "Have You Changed the Newspaper in Your Wife's Cage Today?"

I'm completely intimidated by the whole thing as well. Coach Mac did get a million men to come together in Washington, which is approximately a million times more visible and influential than me.

There's nothing like being in the minority, unless you live in a democracy, because majorities have a way of winning elections.

Maybe the Inquisition started as a bunch of folks just getting together and talking about "orthodoxy" and how important it is to "love and honor" the heretics. Coffee mugs and Iron Maidens didn't come until later.

I'm being a bit hard on the Promise Keepers, for sure. They do advocate a more open and free form of emotional expression for the men who attend, as well as strengthening father-son relationships.

It's hard to critique those aims, as I'm not against men hugging and crying at all. I'm just against everything else the Promise Keepers advocate.

It is my slim and unjustified hope that our society will remember our promise to uphold the ideals of equality and freedom for all, a promise we may very well fail to keep.

Brad Wallace is a creative writing and molecular and cellular biology senior. His column, Handful of Dust, appears every Tuesday and he can be reached via e-mail at Brad.Wallace@wildcat.arizona.edu.