In early October 1997, hundreds of thousands of men gathered on the National Mall in Washington DC. Calling themselves the Promise-Keepers, they rallied for a renewed commitment to Christian principles of family responsibility, desirous of turning the tide against “moral deterioration in modern America.” These men cried and prayed together, asking for forgiveness for their sins (in one man's case this meant “years of drug and alcohol abuse, spent with hippies, bikers and Buddhists” [New York Times, Oct. 5, 1997], and beseeching other men to turn to the Bible for moral guidance. The Bible, not incidentally, was also the reason why there were no women at the rally. The Promise-Keepers promulgated the doctrine that the Bible establishes the rightful place of husbands as leaders of households, and of women as obedient helpmates and caretakers of children. Similarly, in June of 1988, the Southern Baptist Convention declared, through an amendment to its statement of beliefs, that: “A husband is to love his wife as Christ loved the church. He has the God-given responsibility to provide for, to protect and to lead his family. A wife is to submit graciously to the servant leadership of her husband even as the church willingly submits to the leadership of Christ” (New York Times, June 10, 1998). While espousing the equality of a wife to her husband before God, she “has the God-given responsibility to respect her husband and to serve as his ‘helper’ in managing the household and nurturing the next generation.”