Steps toward cultural sanity

We are seeing interesting developments in the culture. In the midst of a society that is seemingly losing its sanity and careening further away from the good, the true, and the beautiful, three national organizations have recently produced cultural rumblings because of their steps away from the liberal agenda.

First, Bethany Christian Services, headquartered in Grand Rapids, Michigan, recently issued a press release stating that future families must align with the organization’s statement of faith and belief. They will no longer employ or partner with those who are LGBTQ+-affirming.

Bethany is considered the country’s largest Protestant adoption and foster care agency, serving more than 25 states with more than 1,000 staff members worldwide. This news is significant because it is a reversal of their 2021 decision to serve LGBTQ+ foster and adoption parents.

Since its founding in 1944, Bethany had not allowed same-sex couples to adopt or foster. That changed in March 2021 when it began allowing same-sex couples to adopt after a lawsuit in Michigan and a contract suspension in Philadelphia.

It appears that when the pressure was on in 2021, Bethany capitulated to the culture and started placing children in homes with same-sex couples. After five years, they have changed course.

Bethany said the policy change was “solely motivated by our conviction that faithfulness to God’s Word must remain central to our mission of demonstrating the love and compassion of Jesus through quality social services.”

A spokesperson said, “This work is about reinforcing the Christian foundation that has guided our organization for more than 80 years.” Not exactly, but after abandoning their foundation, they now seem to be returning to it.

Good for them. Maybe they will hold true.

Second, Major League Baseball seems to have taken a step back from leftist ways. The San Francisco Giants held “Pride Night” on June 12, when players donned rainbow-patterned caps. Three pitchers — Landon Roupp, JT Brubaker, and Ryan Walker — wrote “Genesis 9:12-16” on their caps, a reference describing God’s design for the rainbow as a sign of his covenant following the flood.

There wasn’t just a battle on the pitcher’s mound that night. There was a battle for the meaning of a symbol.

MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred issued a verbal warning to the three pitchers after the game, stating that players are not allowed to write any kind of message on their caps. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., wrote to the commissioner expressing “grave concern” that three players were given a warning for “expressing their Christian faith.”

Manfred responded to the charge of seemingly religious discrimination by saying that communication among the Giants was not clear. Giants President of Baseball Operations Buster Posey refused to talk about the issue in a dugout interview, placing doubt on the situation.

And the Texas Rangers once again held their Faith and Family Night this year as an alternative to the league-supported Pride Night. In fact, the Rangers have never held a Pride Night.

These organizations have taken small steps. Good for them. Maybe we are beginning to see some steps toward cultural sanity. B&R — Todd E. Brady lives in Jackson, Tenn., where he and his family are members of Cornerstone Community Church. Brady currently serves as interim pastor at First Baptist Church, Savannah, Tenn.