The standard for Christianity — at the very least — should be that one does not publicly drape himself in gay pride paraphernalia.
Last week, when Clayton Kershaw, a self-professed Christian who at one point spoke out against his team’s endorsement of blasphemy, chose to wear a uniform promoting sodomy and genital mutilation, he not only acted like a coward but also rebelled against God. Despite claims of Christian discipleship from Kershaw, the team’s manager and a smattering of other players, not one member of the Los Angeles Dodgers boycotted the organization’s sacrilegious Pride Night, and, as such, all of them should turn in their Christianity cards until they start living out the basic tenets of the gospel.
The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence
Last year, when five players from the Tampa Bay Rays baseball team refused to wear team-issued pride gear, we learned that there are still some professional athletes with a backbone. But this kind of pushback is an anomaly in the world of sports.
The typical “Christian” athlete is much like Clayton Kershaw, who has a Bible verse in his Twitter bio while at the same time pledging his allegiance to our sexually depraved culture. Ironically, the specific verse that Kershaw has in his bio is Colossians 3:23: “Whatever your task, work heartily, as serving the Lord and not men.”
Serving the Lord, that is, uniting one’s life to Christ and bringing about His Kingdom, is the Christian vocation. Unlike virtually everybody else in Major League Baseball, one player seems to understand this. Trevor Williams, a pitcher for the Washington Nationals, in condemning the Dodgers’ blasphemous Pride Night, stated, “When I die … and St. Peter greets me at the gates, he’s not going to ask what your win–loss record was in 2023. He’s going to ask, ‘How did you build the kingdom of Heaven?'”
Today, pro athletes sell their souls for the sports they love, the organizations they’re a part of, and, of course, the paychecks they collect. It’s reminiscent of the famous scene from A Man for All Seasons, wherein Sir Thomas More confronts his former friend who had just betrayed him. After seeing that his old friend, who had just falsely testified against him, was wearing a nice chain representing his new position as the attorney general for Wales, More says, “Ah, but Richard, it profits a man nothing to gain the whole world if he should lose his soul. … But for Wales, Richard?”
In commenting on this famous scene, Br. Thomas Thérèse Mannion, O.P., writes, “There are plenty of things less grand than Wales which we trade our soul for, mostly little compromises we make with evil, convincing ourselves we are entitled to a particular good.”
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One of the most basic teachings of Catholic moral theology is that the end never justifies the means. In other words, one cannot do evil to attain a good, no matter how “good” it may be.
Footage from A Man for All Seasons
Likewise, Doctor of the Church St. John Chrysostom, in expanding on this concept, teaches, “Think not that he has saved his soul, who has shunned the perils of the Cross; for when a man, at the cost of his soul, that is, his life, gains the whole world, what has he besides, now that his soul is perishing?”
While most “Christian” pro athletes are like Kershaw in that they’re indifferent about fighting evil in their midst, many of the faithful are calling these guys out in order to warn them. This was the entire point of the prayer protest outside Dodger Stadium on June 16.
In the same spirit as the protest, conservative Christian commentator Jason Whitlock tried to warn Kershaw last month. He tweeted at the future first-ballot Hall of Fame pitcher, “No Pride Night, brother. Call in sick. Don’t participate. Take a stand. Jesus was beaten, brutalized, crucified on a tree. Just don’t play baseball.”
Needless to say, Kershaw did play baseball during last week’s Pride Night. And he, along with all of his so-called Christian teammates and coaches, joined the ranks of the Jews and Pharisees who rejected Christ and chanted “crucify Him” 2,000 years ago.