Los Angeles Dodgers star pitcher Clayton Kershaw apparently pushed back on his team’s decision to honor the heretical and blasphemous anti-Catholic group the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.
“I don’t agree with making fun of other people’s religions,” he told the Los Angeles Times. “I just don’t think that, no matter what religion you are, you should make fun of somebody else’s religion. So that’s something that I definitely don’t agree with.”
Frustrated with the insulting decision to award the group its “Community Hero Award,” the three-time National League Cy Young Award winner said he struggled with how to respond to the escalating controversy. In the end, he said his answer came down to one person: Jesus.
“To make Christian Faith Day our response is what we felt like was the [appropriate] decision.”
By “we” Kershaw was referring to his wife and several friends. They approached the club and requested they reinstitute the special event that occurred annually prior to the COVID pandemic.
“As a follower of Christ, we’re supposed to love everybody well,” Kershaw reflected. “And I think that means being able to be at a lot of different places and be able to be a part of a lot of different things.”
Like many employees of businesses and organizations, Clayton Kershaw finds himself in a tenuous position. The Dodgers are paying the veteran a base salary of $25 million this season. It’s one thing to question your employer – but how far can an employee go when his leadership team offends his moral and ethical sensibilities?
Countless Americans walk this tightrope on a daily basis. Once upon a time, the big debate in the corporate world had to do with offering same-sex couples a variety of benefits traditionally reserved for those related by marriage. The Supreme Court rendered that conversation moot with the legalization of same-sex “marriage” back in 2015.
On the eve of “Pride” month, you can expect that corporate America will be expressing and championing its support in any number of ways – and most employees who object will simply remain silent out of fear of losing their livelihoods or being ostracized and labeled bigots.
Even Kershaw’s objection was somewhat muted or dulled with a variety of caveats thrown in to minimize blowback.
For example, of the blasphemous group, he said he “did the best I could to try and understand what they stood for.”
What they “stand for” is vile and hateful, and it doesn’t take but a few seconds to figure that out.
The longtime Dodger also suggested he decided it was better to communicate what he stood for rather than condemn. The desire to be known for what you’re for as opposed to what you’re against is understandable. Each Christian must pray for wisdom and direction on how God might be calling them to respond. Yet keep in mind the apostle Paul’s advice to the Ephesians: Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them (5:11), or his admonition to Timothy to “preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching” (2 Tim. 4:2).
We can look forward to the Dodgers Christian Faith Day on July 30th. In the meantime, frustrated Dodger fans might decide they’ll be cheering their team on – but only every fifth game when Kershaw is on the mound.
Photo from Shutterstock.
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