Another piece from Slate.com about the Rockies, who caused a star awhile back because of their penchant for looking heavenward for strength.
While the piece, a reprint from 2000, looks primarily at football, the subject of religion applies across sports lines. It also links to the Rockies’ “emphasis on Christianity first reported by USA Today in 2006.”
More recently an op-ed piece from the Oct. 17 issue of the Washington Jewish Week by Ari Sunshine, the rabbi of B’nai Shalom of Olney, readdresses the situation. While there a dozen Jews in the majors in 2007, even non-Jewish players were offended by comments made in the Washington Nationals clubhouse, reported by Laura Blumenfeld in the Washington Post.
Sunshine, a long-time baseball fan, writes:
It seems fitting that it was when I was on my way to my grandfather’s unveiling on Sept. 18, 2005, that I came across [the article] about an evangelical Christian ministry called Baseball Chapel, which supplies volunteer chaplains to every major and minor league team (more than 200 in total).
Blumenfeld’s article focused on the Nationals team and its then-chapel leader, Jon Moeller. Toward the end of the story, Blumenfeld reported the following exchange: “[Ryan] Church was concerned because his former girlfriend was Jewish. He turned to Moeller, ‘I said, like, Jewish people, they don’t believe in Jesus. Does that mean they’re doomed? Jon nodded, like, that’s what it meant. My ex-girlfriend! I was like, man, if they only knew. Other religions don’t know any better. It’s up to us to spread the word.’ ”
I was stunned. Even more than I wondered how a ballplayer could think nothing of such offensive comments, I wondered how a chaplain could think this was appropriate for the clubhouse.Local reaction to the article was swift and harsh, prompting the Nationals to suspend Moeller and drawing an apology from Church. But I was still bothered by what I perceived to be a larger national issue of evangelizing affecting the game I love so dearly — after all, Baseball Chapel’s stated vision on its Web site is seeing “deeply committed players use their platform to influence people around the world to become followers of Jesus Christ” — and so I wrote a letter to Commissioner Bud Selig, who happens to be Jewish.
I noted how troubling it was that this right-wing, evangelical view of Christianity was the only style of Christian worship and chaplaincy made available to MLB personnel. The majority of American Christians do not denigrate other religions and make it difficult to have meaningful dialogue and healthy interactions between people of different faiths.
Sunshine notes he’s still waiting for Selig’s overdue action.
It’s a delicate issue, bringing religion into the lockerroom. I’m sure many broadcasters roll their eyes during interviews when players give thanks to their Lord. I’m waiting for the time when Kevin Youkilis, Boston’s Jewish first baseman, praises “Ha’sham” — the Jewish word for God — for seeing his team through another World Championship.
Several books examine the role of religion in baseball, including:
- Rounding the Bases: Baseball and Religion in America , by Joseph L. Price (Mercer)
- The Faith of Fifty Million: Baseball, Religion, and American Culture, edited by Evans and Herzog (Westminster John Knox Press)
- The Holy Trinity of American Sports: Civil Religion in Football, Baseball, and Basketball, by Craig A. Forney (Mercer)
- Preacher: Billy Sunday and Big-Time American Evangelism , by Roger A. Bruns
(University of Illinois Press) - The Great God Baseball, by Allan Hye (Mercer)
is available on Amazon.com,
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