Pop culture is not a two-way street, as former Mozilla CEO Brendan Eich and Atlanta Fire Chief Kelvin Cochran will tell you. The two men were publicly chastised and fired for supporting traditional marriage – stories that reverberate among the Christian community. But that hasn’t stopped likeminded believers from stepping up to the plate. Professional baseball player Daniel Murphy is a second baseman for the New York Mets. “When the League appointed his teammate (and open homosexual) Billy Bean as its ‘ambassador of inclusion,’” writes Family Research Council president Tony Perkins, “Murphy wasn’t about to sit on the sidelines.” The 29-year-old Christian infielder opined, “I disagree with [homosexuality]. That doesn’t mean I can’t still invest in [Billy] and get to know him… [You] can still accept them, but I do disagree with the lifestyle, 100 percent. … Just because I disagree with the lifestyle doesn’t mean I’m just never going to speak to Billy Bean every time he walks through the door. That’s not love. That’s not love at all.” Murphy’s humble remarks had even Bean expressing admiration. “I appreciate that Daniel spoke his truth,” he responded in an op-ed. “I really do. … I respect him, and I want everyone to know that he was respectful of me.”

And that’s where it should have ended. Instead, writes Katrina Trinko of The Daily Signal, “On Wednesday, an ESPN story headlined ‘Murphy now to talk baseball only’ appeared. The story’s first line was ‘New York Mets second baseman Daniel Murphy will no longer address his religious beliefs and will stick to baseball, a team spokesman said Wednesday.’” In other words, the Mets organization told Murphy to keep his religious views to himself, or else. “What we’re seeing here is a dialogue: Bean and Murphy are both being honest about their views,” Trinko adds. “They’re also both clearly trying to be considerate and respectful of the other’s views. That’s what our society needs.” The problem is that what this society needs is not what agitators want.