Rather than baptism being simply a pledge, he describes baptism as a sign of our covenant with God.
The brainchild of ultra-rich business-philanthropists Warren Buffett and Bill and Melinda Gates, the pledge is described as "a commitment by the world's wealthiest individuals and families to dedicate the majority of their wealth to philanthropy".
A friend in Florida, Matt Nelson, set him up with a Web site through FirstGiving, where people could make pledges and describe their own runs.
Within hours of the terrorist attacks on the United States a year ago, Gerhard Schröder, Germany's chancellor, was among the first to pledge his "unlimited solidarity", describing the event as "a declaration of war against the entire civilised world".
At one point, in describing his pledge to make the nation more independent of foreign oil, he said that what was needed was a sense of unity, like there was after the attacks.
Other antinuclear groups were not happy, however, describing the new pledge as too little, too late.
ROME — Pope Francis promised friendship, respect and continued dialogue with other religious leaders on Wednesday, pledging cooperation with Orthodox churches, describing the spiritual bond between Catholics and Jews as "very special" and expressing gratitude to Muslim leaders.
Labour attributed its defeat in the 1992 election to its tax and spend pledges - memorably described by one of its own party members as "the longest suicide note in history".
Unavailable to the late adopters who use such a traditional channel is the "I kissed my dog and I liked it" t-shirt that was offered to those who pledged $95 and described by the campaign page as "delightfully inappropriate".
