Mike Freeman of USA Today is pushing for the cancellation of a planned Promise Keepers function at Dallas' AT&T Stadium owing to CEO Ken Harrison's biblical views on homosexuality.
In his op-ed, Freeman argues that Harrison's comments have no place near an NFL squad, and that neither should an organization like AT&T be affiliated with them.
"By allowing this conference to happen at one of football's meccas, and by AT&T allowing it, they are helping to mainstream hate speech," he said.
It was the Promise Keeper's CEO's biblical perspective on gender and gender roles that Freeman considers objectionable. Harrison discussed his convictions in a radio interview which he also reiterated in his other interview with USA Today.
"Look, today's culture is blurring the lines when it comes to sexual identity," he retorted. "Both Promise Keepers and I subscribe to a Biblical worldview when it comes to male and female, and that's one of the religious freedoms we celebrate in our nation. Sometimes we agree with culture, and sometimes we don't."
Freeman called Harrison's comments "offensive" and "inaccurate," citing Harrison as claiming that the Promise Keepers event was being used to highlight religious discrimination that, according to Freeman, has no valid basis.
"The irony of defining my words as hate speech is that is exactly the opposite of what we teach," Harrison wrote. "All people everywhere are welcome to come to our rally to celebrate and be unified around the fact that God forgives the sins of all who believe in Jesus."
In response, Harrison said: "The irony of defining my words as hate speech is that is exactly the opposite of what we teach. All people everywhere are welcome to come to our rally to celebrate and be unified around the fact that God forgives the sins of all who believe in Jesus."
In his opinion, Freeman thinks that the solution is simple.
"What could the Cowboys do? The team essentially rents the stadium, so it's true they technically can't prevent the Promise Keepers from being there. But if owner Jerry Jones, one of the most powerful men in all of sports, didn't want the event to occur at the stadium, he could likely use his influence to make it disappear. Same with AT&T," he wrote.
Freeman expanded the "conversation" by referring to President Joe Biden as, ironically, "extremely religious" and drawing comparisons between Harrison's religion and the presidents. Unlike Harrison, Freeman believes that Biden's religion would not "stop him from treating trans people as human beings."
"Biden gives hope that eventually good will win against hate," he asserted.
Rev. Graham Speaks Out in Defense of the Promise Keepers
As the Promise Keepers became an ever more vocal opponent of redefinition of genders, he was soon defended by an evangelist Franklin Graham.
"This is the cancel culture speaking. The issue is religious freedom. This event is about the freedom to believe, share, study, and celebrate biblical truth in love," he wrote on a tweet.
According to Graham, Harrison has inspired men morally from a spiritual perspective as he has done over the last three decades. The event in Dallas is expecting to host 80,000 males during the month of July.
