By Brad Locke
September 23, 2005

(AgapePress) - Be careful about nodding your head, folks. It may get you run off.

And be careful about affirming biblical truths. It may get you run off, or worse -- gasp! -- you might offend someone and be labeled intolerant and hateful.

Meet Jon Moeller, Washington Nationals team chaplain. Or at least he was, until he had the audacity to answer a player's theological question, which is kind of in his job description. The question was asked by, ironically enough, outfielder Ryan Church: "Are Jews doomed because they don't believe in Jesus?"

Before I go further, I must say this almost sounds like a set-up, because current society won't tolerate but one answer to that question. But I doubt Church, a rookie, was up to any shenanigans. In fact, he asked the question because he was concerned about the eternal fate of his Jewish ex-girlfriend. Although I'm curious why Church chose to reveal this exchange to the media; I figured locker room conversation away from the microphones was kept private. If I were Moeller, I'd feel betrayed.

Anyway, Moeller answered with a simple nod of the head. As breathlessly reported in the Washington Post (surprise, surprise) on Sept. 18, Moeller was suspended while an investigation ensued.

A local rabbi told the Post that "the locker room of the Nationals is being used to preach hatred." I hope he didn't split his lip with that knee-jerk response. It's funny how quickly and often the word "hate" gets lobbed at Christians. Maybe the rabbi should have tried a response that involved actual thought, like a refutation of Moeller's belief that Jesus Christ is the one and only path to God's kingdom.

In a Sept. 21 article by the Post, the most sensible observation was made by Rev. Richard Land, head of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission: "Just how many ways can you interpret the words of Jesus in John 14:5-6, 'I am the way, the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by me'?"

Now Nats management is considering pluralism -- allowing chaplains of many different faiths to minister to players and personnel. So you walk into their locker room one day and see a priest, a rabbi and a Muslim cleric standing around, and you expect someone to deliver a punch line.

Moeller is being called intolerant, but you want intolerance, consider the remarks made by team president Tony Tavares: "I don't dispute his right to teach his Christian beliefs. It's just the way this was done, turning this into some public pulpit ... that's what troubles me."

What troubles me is the blatant hypocrisy of that statement. It's so absurd, I fear perhaps I'm misunderstanding it. But it seems Tavares is saying it's OK for Moeller to teach his beliefs -- the core of those beliefs being salvation through Christ -- but not to do it publicly. First of all, Moeller didn't make the locker room (a private area save when the media are lurking) a public forum for his beliefs. Second of all, if he is asked a religious question by a player, how could he have answered it in a less public manner? Simply nodding his head during a private conversation constitutes a public proclamation? How does Tavares want Moeller to go about teaching the players -- telepathically? (But what if another player wandering by picks up the brain waves and is offended?)

OK, so maybe Tavares meant he didn't like that this conversation between Church and Moeller became public knowledge. But if that's the case, then why is he punishing Moeller?

What this boils down to is a man doing exactly what he was supposed to do, and being punished for it. Was Moeller supposed to remain silent? Was he supposed to shake his head, thus denying his own convictions? Is that what the Nationals wanted him to do? How intolerant can you get?

I'm glad Moeller stood up for God, and I pray this doesn't discourage him from answering other people's theological inquiries. I hope he remains a man who will give answers to a world that so desperately needs the Truth.