Over Half of MLB Teams Hold Faith Night During 2023 Season
By Movieguide® Contributor
Over half of MLB teams have hosted or will hold faith nights during the 2023 season.
According to Religion Unplugged, “At least 18 of MLB’s 30 franchises — 60% — will host faith nights during the 2023 season.”
“The Colorado Rockies (Aug. 20), Arizona Diamondbacks (Aug. 25), Seattle Mariners (Aug. 26) and Washington Nationals (Sept. 2) are among those with upcoming faith-and-family promotions,” Religion Unplugged reported recently.
The main contributor to faith nights is the “He Gets Us” campaign, which poured in $20 million into the 2023 Super Bowl so its 115 million viewers could hear the gospel.
CBN News reported, “The ‘He Gets Us’ media campaign – which challenges viewers to look into Jesus – is sponsoring faith events hosted by the Atlanta Braves, Chicago White Sox, Miami Marlins, and St. Louis Cardinals. In addition, ‘He Gets Us’ is also advertising at Rangers and Los Angeles Angels games, the outlet reported.”
“He Gets Us’ goal is to reintroduce people to the Jesus of the Bible and his confounding love and forgiveness…The best way to do that is to meet people where they are. That is why you see our ads at a variety of events, including sporting events,” campaign spokesperson Jordan Carson stated in a press release.
Religion Unplugged added that faith nights are not a new phenomenon.
“In reviewing the history of religion and baseball, Paul Putz, assistant director of Baylor University’s Faith & Sports Institute, discovered that teams such as the Baltimore Orioles organized what ticket stubs called “Inter-Faith Night” in the 1950s,” Religion Unplugged stated.
In a recent tweet, Putz wrote, “I was talking to a reporter today about the history of ‘faith nights’ in baseball and I had to bring up the 1950s version: Inter-Faith Nights Started in Baltimore when they were a minor league team, then caught on in the majors when Cold War ‘tri-faith America’ rhetoric was hot.”
“‘This was the height of the Cold War, and there’s the fear of communism, and there’s this belief that America needs to have some religious identity,” Putz said, recalling that Inter-Faith Night promoted pluralism among Protestant, Catholic and Jewish believers,” the source continued.
I was talking to a reporter today about the history of “faith nights” in baseball and I had to bring up the 1950s version: Inter-Faith Nights
Started in Baltimore when they were a minor league team, then caught on in the majors when Cold War “tri-faith America” rhetoric was hot pic.twitter.com/0RdPKRRA9e
— Paul Putz (@p_emory) August 3, 2023
Faith nights continue to impact MLB fans. Movieguide® recently reported on the LA Dodgers’ pitcher Clayton Kershaw’s thoughts on “Christian Faith and Family Day”:
Los Angeles Dodgers Pitcher Clayton Kershaw disagreed with the organization’s choice to honor the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence during the teams Pride Night. Kershaw then took action to expedite his announcement to relaunch the Christian Faith and Family Day at the stadium.
Kershaw told the Los Angeles Times, “I think we were always going to do Christian Faith Day this year, but I think the timing of our announcement was sped up. Picking a date and doing those different things was part of it as well. Yes, it was in response to the highlighting of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence [by the Dodgers].”
Kershaw announced on his Twitter, “Excited to announce the relaunch of Christian Faith and Family Day at Dodger Stadium on July 30th. More details to come— but we are grateful for the opportunity to talk about Jesus and determined to make it bigger and better than it was before COVID. Hope to see you on July 30th!”
