What do they do with the beer and the slutty cheerleaders on occassions like this? Or is that OK since it's all je-he-sus' name?

Oh well, it just shows what twits fundie Christians are, and how easy it is to take their money. Just tie it to Him, however tenuously, and they open their wallets wide.

The St. Louis Carinals have been having "Family Chritian Day" for years. God forbid you get tix for that game and don't realize it. you wind up the only shmoe guzzling Bud Lights while surronded by a bunch of Baptist looking down their noses at you.

I like that there is a company that SPECIALIZES in faith marketing. Isn't there a story in the bible about JHC freaking out on the money changers in the temple? (See, I haven't blocked out ALL of my catholic upbringing)

Dan --

I've never really understood what you see in Andrew Sullivan.

The three huger errors he lists in his Time piece (from march 2006) about the Iraq war are pretty self-serving:

For instance, error one:
"The first was to overestimate the competence of government, especially in very tricky areas like WMD intelligence."
That's just bullshit. The WMD intelligence was accurate. It was the political spin to suppress the intel that accurately stated that there were no WMD that was (and is the problem) the problem. Downing Street memo, anyone? Plamegate, anyone? And Andrew is too smart not to know this.

Two: "The second error was narcissism. America's power blinded many of us to the resentments that hegemony always provokes."

Bullshit, again. The problems that we are experiencing in Iraq are the direct result of Don Rumsfeld's desire to show that he could chuck the Powell Doctrine out the window and that he didn't need to plan for an occupation or develop a realistic plan for rebuilding. We're not resented in Iraq for our "hegemony." If anything, we're resented for having violated the Pottery Barn rule and brought chaos and misery to millions of people.

Third: "The final error was not taking culture seriously enough... naiveté when it comes to complex, tribal, sectarian cultures abroad."

Again, self-serving bullshit. Our leaders weren't naive. They were willfully, stubbornly, adamantly ignorant about the country they decided to conquer. And they are doing it again with Iran's developing nuclear capability (can you say Shia-Sunni conflict?).

Finally, Andrew's justifications and exhortation we should just move on and be flexible sounds a lot like ex post facto weasle move. I mean how seriously can you take:

"What we do know is that for all our mistakes, free elections have been held in a largely Arab Muslim country" (forgetting the caveat that it took more than half a year of behind scenes wrangling after the election to get a puppet government up and rolling, that women's rights have been rolled back, and that free elections happen all the time in largely Muslim countries like Turkey (yes, I know, not *arab*)).

And this Polyanna weasel move: "But the certainty of some today that we have failed is as dubious as the callow triumphalism of yesterday. War is always, in the end, a matter of flexibility and will. And sometimes the darkest days are inevitable--even necessary--before the sky ultimately clears." No. The certainty that we have "failed" is based on the number of US dead, the lack of an exit strategy, the festering wounds of Shia-Sunni violence that are pushing Iran to develop nuclear weapons, the lack of any infrastructure in large areas of Iraq, and the absolute barbarism that has overtaken what was a stable, middle-class country in the Middle East.

Will Iraq recover? Possibly. Will it have much to do with our involvement in this war? Not likely. And by equating the people who interject some reality into the discussion with the incompetent warmongers who brought about this catastrophe, Sullivan does no one a favor.

And let's not get into the barebacking without disclosure.

should read: "family ChriStian Day"...

Not in MY publicly-funded house!

This is the same league that forces all its teams to play 'God Bless America' during the 7th Inning Stretch on Sundays.

Yeah, baseball is overrun with Christian right-wingers.

I believe the correct term is "Jeezobucks."

I agree that publically funded sports stadiums should not promote Christian events...

Good, another reason not to go to a baseball game.

Y'all:

The following comments are generated by my research and teaching in baseball history and literature, so some respectful attention from the back of the slog class please. And my comments have nothing to do with Andrew Sullivan or Iraq.

First, baseball has long been associated with religion--metaphorically, it is a religion, in that it requires an irrational faith in something ('the purity of the game') which contradicts reality (baseball is, and has been since the 1870s, a big fucking business).

Second, the faith-nights will keep the honky-tonks and strip bars clear of the faithful attempting to convert sinners. Take advantage of this by going to these other dens of iniquity when the faithful are praying for the wisdom to grasp the infield fly rule.

Third, the real threat to baseball's secularity is patriotism, not religion (though the two are coterminous in some minds): at Cubs Opening Day this year, as for the last two or three years, they've added some schoolchildren doing the Pledge of Allegiance before the National Anthem is sung. I always look on the back of my ticket to see if it's got a loyalty oath as well as a rain check printed there.

Finally, we should all recall that when they started doing the National Anthem before ball games during the First World War, many people objected, since they thought it was undignified to associate our national song with something as low-class as baseball. If only we could return to those days.

Bill

Lucid and on topic, Bill.

Catalina - There are no cheerleaders (slutty or otherwise) at baseball games, but I like where your head is.

Not to mention that we have a rich history in this country of hucksters making a buck off both the flag and the cross. I have no problem with the charlatans who do this - somebody is going the take the money of the gullible, it might as well be them - just as long as they aren't hateful about it.

i.e. Let them have their "faith night" for the simple-minded who would rather not go to a ball game with "non-believers", but if they start, say, morphing faith night into "sanctity of marriage night", or similar political garbage, close it down.

Of course, that's a slippery slope, and I wouldn't put it past them to try it.

Good point, 7th inning. I was traumatized by a rather insipid interaction with the SeaGals a few years back, and for some reason I now associate them with all of the pro sports teams in town.

God, can you imagine if they start getting all Jesus-y on the NFL?

I'm no fan of God Bless America or Jesus Night, but the real threat to our national pastime is GODDAMN DANCING GROUNDSKEEPERS!

The real threat is the hideous homestand that starts today. The worse games in the history of baseball and humanity: The Ms vs the Royals. What could be worse? HeyZeus couldnt save these 2 teams. They stink worse than Tacoma.

It would be cool if you had a preacher say a prayer for the M's and bless their balls and bats. At least it would be more enjoyable than watching this current Ms team.

I remember going to Aquasox games last year and some crazy christian bands playing there, and selling Jesus stuff. It was awful, but this crazy metal head looking kid had a great shirt that said, Sin Sucks.

It would be cool if you had a preacher say a prayer for the M's and bless their balls and bats.

If the M's were all 10 years old, I bet priests would line up at the gate to *bless their balls*, IFYOUKNOWWHATIMEAN.

If it's really a "faith" day, I want my sitting fat buddha bobblehead to the first 20,000 attendees!

The United States could learn a lot from the secular nation Israel has created. All religions are welcome there, and no one would ever pray at a sports game in Israel. Religious intolerance hurts everyone.

Wow, Shoshana. The only intolerance I'm seeing on this blog is towards Christians. All religions are supposed to be welcome in this country too - it was a major reason the country was founded. Unfortunately, all religions are welcomed, EXCEPT Christianity - ever noticed that?

The only thing that makes it a "faith" game is that there will be a Christian rock group in concert afterwards. The Diamondbacks have a country star singing in concert after a game too, but I don't see people up in arms about that.

And it may surprise some of you to know that Christians go to games all the time - but, heck yeah, I'm definitely going to be more likely to go on a day when I can hear a really rocking Christian group after the game too. What's the harm in that?

You know, for years I used to be as vehemently against Christians myself - I thought they were a bunch of ignorant hypocrites. The funny thing is, I came to know Jesus Christ and realized that I WAS the ignorant hypocrite.