Baseball, the Bible and the Colorado Rockies
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Time Magazine has an interesting article about the role that Christianity plays with the Colorado Rockies. George McHendry of First Congregational Church Eastlake in Colorado is quoted in the article:
Beyond the fact that some people want to root for a team without having to root for its savior, making religion an organizational conviction raises plenty of questions. The Rockies don't exclude non-Christians — pitcher Jason Hirsh is Jewish — but if "Christian values" seep too deeply into the team's thinking, isn't discrimination, even of the subconscious kind, a danger?
Few of the Rockies wanted to discuss the issue in the midst of the most important games of their lives, but George McHendry, the pastor at United Church of Christ in northern Denver who attended some 50 Rockies games this year, thinks the team is increasingly sensitive to its reputation. In 2005 and 2006, the Rockies had a "Christian Family Day" at Coors Field. This season the Rockies renamed the promotion "Faith Day," though there weren't many rabbis or imams at the park. "To do that to appease other religions is hypocritical to say the least," says McHendry, who helped organize the event. "It was truly a Christian day."
