B2 EZ SU THE WASHINGTON POST.SATURDAY, AUGUST 1 , 2020
Virginia reported 984 new cases
and 33 deaths. That’s the highest
number of coronavirus-related fa-
talities in a single day in Virginia
since May 28.
The seven-day average of daily
caseloads in D.C., Maryland and
Virginia stood at 2,083 on Friday,
just below the roughly 2,200 daily
average recorded at the height of
the pandemic.
Much of the recent increase is a
result of spikes in the Hampton
Roads area of Virginia and in the
Baltimore metro area, although
two Washington suburbs Friday
recorded their highest daily totals
in weeks. Prince George’s County
saw its largest number of infec-
tions since May 30, while Mont-
gomery County’s was the highest
since June 13.
The District’s caseload has gen-
erally held steady in the last half of
July, while Northern Virginia’s
daily cases are little changed since
mid-June.
[email protected]
[email protected]Erin Cox, Ovetta Wiggins and Julie
Zauzmer contributed to this report.complacent, but we can’t afford to
let our guard down.”
Hogan on Friday issued the
fourth extension of a moratorium
on phone, cable, water, gas and
electricity shut-offs for residents
who cannot pay their bills. Late
fees are also prohibited. The mora-
torium now remains in place until
Sept. 1.
Meanwhile, the Arlington
County Board on Friday passed an
emergency ordinance that bans
groups of more than three people
from congregating on sidewalks
and streets that are posted with
the restrictions and requires those
who are walking to stay at least six
feet away from others in those
areas. Violations could include a
traffic fine of up to $100, the coun-
ty said in a news release.
Maryland, Virginia and the
District added 2,222 infections
Friday, bringing the region’s total
to 190,360 since the start of the
pandemic. The three jurisdic-
tions reported 39 new fatalities,
lifting the death toll to 6,252.
D.C. added 69 new cases and
one death, Maryland had 1,169
new cases and five deaths, andcoronavirus spread, Hogan on Fri-
day asked Maryland residents to
use caution during weekend activ-
ities.
“As we head into the weekend,
Marylanders should keep in mind
that the top activities reported in
contact tracing investigations
were family gatherings, house
parties, and outdoor events,” he
said in a tweet. “It’s easy to becomethan 5 to wear face coverings while
indoors in public spaces and out-
doors when social distancing is
not possible. Masks are required
at all businesses, commercial of-
fice buildings and locations that
have public areas, including hous-
es of worship, casinos, gyms and
personal-service establishments.
After saying this week that
house parties are a large source ofreligion
LUCIAN PERKINS/THE WASHINGTON POSTPeople attend a huge rally f or the Christian men’s movement, Promise Keepers, in 1997 in Washington.
The group is holding a virtual gathering featuring pastors, m usicians and former sports figures.
BY ADELLE BANKSThirty years ago, a Christian
men’s movement began as a meet-
ing of dozens of men with a promi-
nent former football coach. Its big-
gest moment was a gathering of
hundreds of thousands of people
on the Mall in 1997.
Now, Promise Keepers is at-
tempting to make a comeback, but
not in the way it had planned.
On Friday, the evangelical or-
ganization began its free, two-day
event online, bringing together
men from more than 65 countries
to hear from former sports figures,
Christian musicians and famous
pastors and authors. Organizers
originally hoped to draw 80,000
men to a stadium outside Dallas
for their first major arena-based
event in close to a decade.
“We’re showing this to a huge
conglomeration of churches in In-
dia — it’s going to be translated
into Hindi — and all over South
America, translated into Spanish,
and it’s also being translated into
Polish,” said Ken Harrison, the or-
ganization’s unpaid chief execu-
tive since early 2018. “What
seemed like a huge disappoint-
ment ended up being a huge bless-
ing.”
He said about 500 churches in
the United States are planning to
host public simulcasts of the virtu-
al event, with others choosing to
keep their plans private in the
midst of the coronavirus pandem-
ic.
The event — prerecorded most-
ly in Nashville — was to feature
messages from Dallas mega-
church pastor Tony Evans and In-
diana-based Christian counselor
Steve Arterburn and the music of
contemporary Christian artist Mi-
chael W. Smith and American Idol
finalist Danny Gokey.
Harrison said he expects some
women who are “curious” will
watch and be able to see for them-
selves what Promise Keepers is
about. But the official response to
registrants — estimated at more
than 1 million — discourages men
from watching with the women in
their lives, at least at first.
“We encourage men to partici-
pate in the event in a mens-only
setting initially,” it said, citing the
merits of women-centered events.
“There is a different dynamic
when men hear these messages
together versus in a setting with
women/wives/daughters/friends.
We encourage men to invite their
wives and other ladies to watch in
a second session after the men
have been able to watch together.”
Asked if the Promise Keepers’
longtime emphasis on men’s lead-
ership might be seen by some as a
threat to women’s rights, Harrison
said his organization is telling
men, not women, how to behave.
“We’re really calling men to be
humble, proactive leaders in their
homes,” he said. “I don’t feel like
it’s my role to tell women how they
should be. That is for their pastor
and other people.”
Harrison said Promise Keepers
continues to focus on reconcilia-
tion across races and denomina-
tions as one of its “seven promis-
es,” although he said he prefers to
use the term “racial unity.”
Brenda Salter McNeil, associate
professor of reconciliation studies
at Seattle Pacific University, said
the focus on racial diversity could
have harmed the men’s organiza-
tion in the past because some were
not attracted to that cause.
“In the evangelical world there
seems to be a big dichotomy be-
tween what people think is spirit-
ual and what people perceive as
being social or political and when
people cross that line,” she said.
“Eventually I thought Promise
Keepers died because they tried to
push that issue.”
The organization, founded by
former University of Colorado
coach Bill McCartney — now diag-nosed with Alzheimer’s disease
and unable to participate in the
virtual event — has cut its staff
from a high of 345 to 28. Its budget,
not including events, is $2 million,
compared with about $30 million
20 years ago. The postponed, in-
person and ticketed event in Tex-
as, now planned for next year, will
cost $6 million; Harrison said the
organization still needs to raise
$500,000 to pay for it.
Harrison said there are many
reasons for his organization’s dis-
appearance from the public eye.
“I’ve gotten some complaints from
some people that they felt like we
got too distracted,” he said, “down
too many roads, and one of those
roads was that we were too much
about racial reconciliation. I don’t
agree with that.”
The schedule for the event in-
cludes a moment from My Faith
Votes, a group whose honorary
co-chairmen include Housing and
Urban Development Secretary
Ben Carson and former Arkansas
governor Mike Huckabee (R).
Asked if Promise Keepers’ lead-
ers will be encouraging support-
ers to vote Republican in the up-
coming presidential election, Har-
rison said they will not.
“We are not going to take on
politics in any way, shape or form,”
he insisted. “But some of the
things we do, talking about jus-
tice, standing up for justice, peo-
ple will come to their own political
conclusion.”
Harrison cited abortion as an
example, saying his organization
will encourage a man who “sins”
by fathering a child while having
sex outside of a heterosexual mar-
riage to support the mother and
not abandon their child. Promise
Keepers also plans to turn its at-
tention to global issues of poverty
and sex trafficking by featuring
speakers from World Vision and
International Justice Mission.
“You cannot be a man of God
and not stand up for justice — they
just go together — and so we really
want to call men out to be active,
standing up for what’s right,” Har-
rison said. “I don’t think most
men, American evangelical men,
have any idea of the wickedness
going on across the world in sex
trafficking, the absolute horrors
that are going on to women and
children across the globe.”
— Religion News ServiceEvangelical Promise Keepers group
aims for comeback in o nline event
DAYNA SMITH/THE WASHINGTON POST
T he men’s Promise Keepers
movement w as founded by
former University of Colorado
coach Bill McCartney.The county’s public schools plan
to have virtual instruction only.
In Ocean City, a new mask
mandate was issued Friday to
require beachgoers to wear face
coverings on the boardwalk,
Mayor Rick Meehan announced.
The requirement is stricter
than the new masking order that
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R)
issued earlier this week, and it
applies to all outdoor areas on the
boardwalk, even if social distanc-
ing is possible. It will be enforced
daily from 8 a.m. to 2 a.m.
Worcester County, which in-
cludes Ocean City, recorded 32
new coronavirus cases Friday — its
highest daily total since the start
of the pandemic. The region has
seen an increase in caseloads dur-
ing the past three weeks.
Hogan’s statewide order, which
also went into effect at 5 p.m.
Friday, requires residents older100 to 50 people. The new execu-
tive order takes effect at 5 p.m.
Saturday.
“We are not afraid to take deci-
sive action to protect the health
and well-being of our residents,
and at this point, the data tells us
that this new restriction is unfor-
tunately necessary,” Alsobrooks
said in a statement.
In neighboring Montgomery
County, health officer Travis Gay-
les announced late Friday that
the county is requiring all non-
public schools to stay closed to
in-person instruction through
Oct. 1, although Gayles said he
would reexamine the require-
ment as that date approached.
“At this point the data does not
suggest that in-person instruc-
tion is safe for students or teach-
ers,” Gayles said in a statement.
REGION FROM B1
Ocean City implements
new mask mandate
MATT MCCLAIN/THE WASHINGTON POST
People walk along King Street in Alexandria on July 23. Virginia
reported 984 new coronavirus cases Friday.BY SARAH PULLIAM BAILEYAlabama state Rep. Will Dis-
mukes (R) resigned this week
from his job as pastor of a rural
Southern Baptist church amid
calls for him to step down from
his legislative position because he
attended a private celebration of
the first grand wizard of the Ku
Klux Klan.
He has said he has no plans to
give up his position in the Ala-
bama House of Representatives.
The national uproar began af-
ter Dismukes posted on Facebook
that he took part in a celebration
of Confederate Gen. Nathan Bed-
ford Forrest last weekend in Sel-
ma, Ala., — even as others in
Selma were holding memorial
events to honor the late civil
rights leader and congressman
John Lewis (D-Ga.).
Dismukes, who represents
Prattville, gave the invocation
July 25 at an annual birthday
party for Forrest at a residence in
Selma known as Fort Dixie. Dis-
mukes’s Facebook post about the
event was later removed.
The controversy puts the spot-
light on how leaders of the South-
ern Baptist Convention, whose
churches are autonomous, handle
issues of racial discrimination.
Dismukes’s resignation from
Pleasant Hill Baptist Church took
place after local Southern Baptist
leaders met with him Tuesday.
“We are saddened and grieved
to learn of the recent Facebook
post by State Representative Will
Dismukes who also serves as a
bivocational pastor,” five local
leaders of the denomination
wrote in a statement. “In the wake
of tremendous controversy, we
reaffirm our opposition to any
kind of racism.”
Seven church deacons met
with Dismukes on Wednesday
night, and they voted to accept his
resignation, according to Mel
Johnson of the Autauga Baptist
Association.
Johnson said many did not
know about the controversy until
he met with them and explained
to them what had happened. He
said the church has a diverse
range of ages among its members,
and some aren’t on Facebook.
Johnson said he was concerned
about the timing of the celebra-
tion and that church leaders were
worried about the backlash that it
had caused.
“It was a tough decision in
accepting his resignation,” John-
son said. “They understand the
confusion and the struggle and
what took place and how folks can
have mixed feelings on both sides
of the table.”
Dismukes did not respond to
several interview requests from
The Washington Post.
Johnson said that Dismukes
described his involvement in the
celebration as a “lapse in judg-
ment.”
“Perception is reality in the
minds of many people,” he said.
“We work to shun the very appear-
ance of evil. I’m not saying he had
evil intent.”
Johnson, who is White, said
that he would not personally at-
tend an event like the one where
Dismukes gave the invocation
and that he has been involved in
conversations with Black leaders
in recent months to ease racial
tensions.
“I would not want to be per-
ceived as racist at all,” he said.
“What another person does in my
denomination, I can’t control
that, I can’t judge a person’s mo-
tives.”
Southern Baptists value the au-tonomy of local churches to hire
or fire their own pastors, but na-
tionally, leaders are working to
amend the convention’s Constitu-
tion to create a formal process to
disaffiliate churches that do not
handle claims of racial discrimi-
nation or sexual abuse well.
However, what will qualify as
racial discrimination is still to be
determined. In 2018, Southern
Baptists expelled a church in
Georgia over charges of racial
discrimination, the only time that
has happened in recent memory.
Johnson said that some people
want to celebrate their Confeder-
ate past while others don’t want to
dwell on Confederate history. And
as someone who was born in
Iowa, Johnson said, he doesn’t
want to weigh in on whether Con-
federate celebrations are appro-
priate.
“Some people think that what
Will did was racist. Others think
it was an innocent mistake.
That’s not for me to judge,” he
said. “Regardless of which side of
the fence you fall on, I’m going to
point everyone to Jesus.”
Johnson said that many South-
ern Baptists see themselves ashistory buffs, but he was troubled
when he saw someone online de-
scribe Dismukes as a Confederate
because he was a Southern Bap-
tist pastor.
“That’s not who we are,” he
said.
When Dismukes took over the
church last year at 28, the Mont-
gomery Advertiser reported that
it had about 100 members. John-
son said that most Southern Bap-
tist churches in the state are
meeting with about 30 percent of
their usual members because of
the novel coronavirus.
Alabama political leaders from
Dismukes’s party, including Re-
publican state Sen. Clyde Cham-bliss Jr., have called for his resig-
nation from the legislature, not-
ing the timing of the celebration
taking place as ceremonies hon-
oring Lewis were happening.
In an interview with a local
television station, Dismukes said
he was not thinking of the timing
of Lewis’s death or the connection
between Forrest and the KKK.
“I guess, with the anti-South-
ern sentiment and all, and the
things that we have going on in
the world today, there’s a lot of
people that are seeming to be
more and more offended,” he told
the news station. “We live in a
time where we literally are going
through cancel culture from all
different areas, and people are
even more sensitive on different
issues and different subjects. This
was just one of those times that it
didn’t quite go the way I expected,
and I never intended to bring hurt
to anyone, especially my own fam-
ily, with everything that’s been
said.”
The birthday party for Forrest
is an annual event. According to
the Southern Heritage News &
Views newsletter, an invitation in
2016 noted the mass shooting by a
white supremacist at a Charles-
ton, S.C., church the previous
year, saying that the fight for
Southern history, heritage and
identity had escalated.
“But, hopefully, we garner an-
other soldier who has come to
know the TRUTH about our his-
tory and our heritage and has
joined the fight to save our noble
Christian culture,” the notice said.
“... in the face of adversity, we
MUST PERSEVERE!!!”
Asked to comment on Dis-
mukes’s actions, Russell Moore,
president of the Southern Baptist
Convention’s Ethics and Reli-
gious Liberty Commission, said
in a statement that the church
must stand “with a gospel that is
the opposite of racist hatred or
any approval or minimization of
the sinfulness of such hatred.”
“Racism is a grave sin against
God and against neighbor. Neo-
confederate and other white su-
premacist groups are not only
morally wrong, but are also in
contradiction to the gospel of Je-
sus Christ,” he said. “The enslave-
ment and torture of human be-
ings made in the image of God,
and the domestic terrorism of the
Ku Klux Klan, are as far removed
from the explicit witness of Scrip-
ture as imaginable and should be
utterly repudiated at every level.”
In June, Dismukes was also
called upon to resign from his
state legislator position over his
support for the Confederacy,
Confederate monuments and his
membership in a Prattville Sons
of Confederate Veterans chapter.
[email protected]Ala. lawmaker resigns as pastor after
celebrating KKK figure’s birthday
MARK HUMPHREY/ASSOCIATED PRESS
A statue in Nashville of Nathan Bedford Forrest, a Confederate
Army general and the first grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan.“Some people think that
what Will [Dismukes]
did was racist. Others
think it was an innocent
mistake. That’s not for
me to judge. Regardless
of which side of the
fence you fall on, I’m
going to point everyone
to Jesus.”
Mel Johnson,
Autauga Baptist Association