US baseball player defends teammates for refusing to affirm ‘Pride month’

A baseball player in the US has defended teammates who are refusing to wear kit designed to promote ‘Pride month’.

The five members of the Tampa Bay Rays wore the group’s traditional blue and white uniform, instead of adding LGBT logos and flags.

Nick Anderson said people should not claim that those who refuse to wear certain clothing should “burn and are a terrible person”.

Faith

Anderson tweeted: “It’s astonishing to me how people don’t understand that different beliefs exist. And because you have different beliefs, in no way, shape, or form does that mean you look down on that individual or think they are lesser.”

Speaking on behalf of the five, Jason Adam said that faith was a large factor in their decision.

He told the Tampa Bay Times that “we don’t want to encourage it if we believe in Jesus, who’s encouraged us to live a lifestyle that would abstain from that behavior”, just as he “encourages me as a heterosexual male to abstain from sex outside of the confines of marriage”.

Adam emphasised that the lifestyle Jesus has encouraged us to live is “for our good”.

Jesus has encouraged us to live a lifestyle that would abstain from that behavior

‘Moral revolution’

In his daily briefing, Christian leader Dr Albert Mohler said that criticism of the team members’ decision highlights activists’ attempt to “bring about their own moral revolution”.

He quoted the theologian and author Carl Trueman, who said that Pride month “witnesses as comprehensive an attempt at cultural revolution as one is ever likely to see”.

as comprehensive an attempt at cultural revolution as one is ever likely to see

Dr Mohler stressed that “no one should avoid talking about these issues at the very time we are being told we have to adopt the new morality”.

Victory

Earlier this year, a Christian pastor won his legal case after being forced to resign from his part-time job for warning Christians and children against LGBT ‘Pride Month’ events.

Pastor Keith Waters was a caretaker at an Isle of Ely primary school before, in 2019, he was served a final written warning for sharing his concerns on Twitter. He had said such events “encourage activities that are contrary to Christian faith and morals” and are “especially harmful to children”.

An Employment Tribunal has now ruled he was discriminated against and that the school did not act proportionately, since the tweet was made as part of his role as a pastor. He was supported by Christian Concern.