Belmont University, a private Christian college in Nashville, Tennessee, announced last week it had canceled a scheduled event with Promise Keepers citing a conflict of values.
According to CBN News, Promise Keepers, a noted Christian men’s ministry, said in a press release the event’s cancellation occurred after the ministry released a statement at the end of last month, reaffirming its support for biblical marriage between one man and one woman and what it perceives to be the dangers of gender ideology.
“We will not stand on the sidelines and remain quiet. As fathers, husbands, grandfathers, and young men—we see the dangers of gender ideology and the harm it causes,” the organization’s statement said.
“At Promise Keepers, we believe it is more important than ever to stand up boldly for what we believe as Christians. God’s Word is very clear on this topic—and we also see the way gender ideology has damaged lives, mutilated bodies, and torn apart families in our own communities.”
Promise Keepers is hosting a series of events this year titled Daring Faith. Events are scheduled for Houston, Memphis, and New York City, with additional stops in other cities across the country. Belmont University was one of those scheduled stops.
The event, billed as “an event & challenge for men of integrity,” had been planned for Sept. 29 at The Fisher Center before Belmont canceled it, according to churchleaders.com.
In a recent interview with the Edifi Podcast Network, Promise Keepers CEO Ken Harrison spoke about Belmont’s cancellation saying his organization had a signed contract with the university and had advertised it.
Then suddenly, two days before tickets were to go on sale, he received an email from the school saying, “due to recent information we realize our values don’t align with your values or something to that effect so we can’t do the event here.”
The Promise Keepers CEO said he called a vice president at the university to get more information about why the event was canceled. He said he was told it was because of “the statement we put out a week before Pride week.”
“And ironically,” Harrison told the Edifi Podcast Network, “the whole event is called Daring Faith. It’s about exercising a daring faith.”
He also warned listeners about “Christian schools who are not teaching Christ.”
“The state of Christian colleges today is really concerning and people need to know this, that Belmont is by no way unique in this way. If you go on their homepage it is all Christian this and Christian that and training people for Christ. What does that mean when you deny the basic tenets of scripture?” Harrison asked.
According to its website, Belmont currently has an enrollment of 9,000 students from every state and more than 33 countries.
