Peanuts, Cracker Jack and Jesus Make an Unsavory Mix at Ballparks

The Nationals suspended that chaplain but retained their relationship with Baseball Chapel. High says the group recruited four Nats who will provide testimonials of their Christian convictions at Faith Night -- Micah Bowie, Jason Simontacchi, Tony Batista and Ryan Langerhans. But Burnett says that Baseball Chapel played no role and that Nationals executives identified the players to Faith Night organizers.

Herzfeld says Jewish players have told him that the officially sanctioned presence of ministers of one faith in the clubhouse makes them uncomfortable.

The Nats say that they don't want to exclude anyone and that the Lerner family, the team's owners, who are observant Jews, are particularly sensitive to any use of religion that might alienate fans. Burnett says the club would happily stage events for any denomination.

But that misses the point: Baseball is a secular church, an elaborate belief system with its own symbols, martyrs and gods. As Michael Novak has written, sports offer rituals and liturgies, "teach religious qualities of heart and soul," and provide significance and order to our lives.

Or, as Annie Savoy, the character Susan Sarandon played in "Bull Durham," put it: "I've tried 'em all, I really have, and the only church that truly feeds the soul, day in, day out, is the Church of Baseball."

Putting two kinds of religion on the same field is a sure way to lose the game.

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