For the past seven years the Promise Keepers movement has been drawing 2.6 million men to mass prayer and repentance meetings in sports stadiums across the US but also arousing the distrust of feminists. Saturday's rally on the Mall between the Capitol and the White House is meant to be a climactic occasion for the movement founded by a football coach and former altar boy, Bill McCartney.
The six hours of prayer, praise and repentance is intended to "revive the soul of the nation", according to the organisers. It will, they hope, be the sign of a new Great Awakening, that series of spiritual revivals which have occurred at various times in the 200year history of the United States.
"America leads the world in the dissemination of pornography. America leads the world in violent crime. We are wrestling with a post-Christian America," says the spokesman of the movement, Steve Chavis.
The founder, Bill McCartney, says of Saturday's rally (called "Stand in the Gap: a Sacred Assembly of Men"): "Our goal is to present to the Lord godly men on their knees in humility, then on their feet in unity, reconciled and poised for revival and spiritual awakening."
Inevitably, the male rally is being compared with the Million Man March on the Mall two years ago led by the Nation of Islam leader, Louis Farrakhan, but PK denies any inspiration from that. Instead, it says it comes from the sacred assemblies recorded in the Old Testament and the passage in Ezekiel where God says: "I looked for a man among them who build up the wall and stand before Me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found none."
Men from every country in the world have been invited to attend the rally, to which 25 denominations, including Catholics, will send official representatives. While the overwhelming number of PK members are white, a campaign has been launched to attract African-Americans, and the chairman of PK is a black minister, Bishop Phillip Porter.
Why is it a movement of men only? McCartney explains: "America is suffering from a severe shortage of integrity and men are behind some of its worst manifestations. Men are more likely than women to break their marriage vows through adultery, violence and abandonment. Men are impregnating young women in record numbers and leaving them to deal with the consequences. In fact, it is men, overwhelmingly, who commit most of the nation's violent crimes and over-populate its prison systems."
The National Organisation of Women suspects an ulterior purpose behind this breast-beating. The President of NOW, Patricia Ireland, says that "the Promise Keepers talk about men taking responsibility but what they mean is men taking charge".
At NOW's annual convention last July a resolution was passed declaring Promise Keepers to be "the greatest danger to women's rights" and pledged to expose its "deceptively innocuous agenda".
Feminists say that PK has "toned down earlier rhetoric calling for the submission of women". They also point to the links between the movement and radical anti-abortion organisations like Operation Rescue, which has used violence against clinics, they claim.
But PK cites many women who after initial doubts now approve of PK and its help for wives. McCartney says he now sees the heroes are not the guys who score the touchdowns. "It's the guys who wash the dishes, change the diapers, take out the garbage. It's these guys who'll have the greatest return on their investment."
In Boulder, Colorado, where McCartney lives, Dr Warren Hern who runs an abortion clinic and is an authority on late-term abortions, accuses him of offering "psychological protection" to those who have shot at his clinic.
"I think this is a fascist movement and very much a part of the religious right. Coach McCartney is an absolutely primitive man who wants political power and has considerable political power. He's an incredibly ignorant man and a very bigoted man," Dr Hern says.
Mr McCartney says his "strong opinions" have led to death threats against him and he now has protection. He denies his movement is homophobic and sexist and a tool of the religious right with a political agenda. While disapproving of homosexuality, PK "welcomes" homosexuals to its rallies.
He says that 75 per cent of those who attend church regularly are women, and points to his own past life as inspiring him to concentrate on changing men's hearts.
"To be honest, I watched my own family suffer as I poured myself into my career. I rationalised my workaholism, of course, but in reality I was letting go of my most basic responsibility . . . Because I failed so miserably, I have been able to see that many men today are doing exactly the same thing as I did.".
Saturday's event will cost PK about $10 million to mount, mainly for 10 Jumbotron TV screens and satellite links to ensure national coverage. PK has become concerned at a fall-off in revenue and attendance at rallies so far this year.
Mr McCartney has written to supporters to increase their efforts for the national rally this week which is facing opposition from "liberal women's groups, atheists, Satanists and others".
PK ranks seventh in the top evangelical organisations headed by World Vision, with annual income of $303 million PK's revenue last year was $96.4 million. But PK's growth since 1990 has been the most spectacular. The ambiance of a stadium, the exhortations of a famous football coach and guilty male consciences are seen as a potent mix.
One of PK's wealthy backers, Glenn Urquhart, says that in a stadium, "men know how to act, to celebrate, to let emotions out. Wall Street bankers and postal clerks can all get up and do the wave." Whether Coach McCartney can work up this fervour on Washington's historic Mall on Saturday remains to be seen.
