Wait until the ACLU hears about this.

Unlike so many other professional athletes in debauchery-filled locker rooms, the members of the Colorado Rockies baseball team do more than say token prayers. Its managers take faith and character seriously. USA Today reports today (hat tip - Tony J.):

No copies of Playboy or Penthouse are in the clubhouse of baseball’s Colorado Rockies. There’s not even a Maxim. The only reading materials are daily newspapers, sports and car magazines and the Bible.

Music filled with obscenities, wildly popular with youth today and in many other clubhouses, is not played. A player will curse occasionally but usually in hushed tones. Quotes from Scripture are posted in the weight room. Chapel service is packed on Sundays. Prayer and fellowship groups each Tuesday are well-attended. It’s not unusual for the front office executives to pray together.

On the field, the Rockies are trying to make the playoffs for the first time in 11 seasons and only the second time in their 14-year history. Behind the scenes, they quietly have become an organization guided by Christianity — open to other religious beliefs but embracing a Christian-based code of conduct they believe will bring them focus and success.

From ownership on down, it’s an approach the Rockies are proud of — and something they are wary about publicizing. “We’re nervous, to be honest with you,” Rockies general manager Dan O’Dowd says. “It’s the first time we ever talked about these issues publicly. The last thing we want to do is offend anyone because of our beliefs.”

Rockies pitcher Jason Jennings says: “They do preach character and good living here. It’s a must for them, and that starts from the very top. But we’re not a military group. … Nobody is going to push their beliefs on each other or make judgments. We do believe that if you do things right and live your life right, good things are going to happen.”

The Rockies, at 27-24 entering Tuesday, are having their best season since 1995 with a payroll of $44 million, the lowest in the National League’s West Division. Their season ticketholders and fans are, for the most part, unaware of the significance the Rockies place on Christian values.

“I had no idea they were a Christian team. … I would love for them to talk about their Christianity publicly,” says Tim Boettcher, 42, a season ticketholder for 12 years and an elder at the Hosanna Lutheran Church in Littleton, Colo. “It makes sense because of the way they conduct themselves. You don’t see the showboating and the trash talking. … They look like a team and act like a team.”

How refreshing. Unfortunately, there seems to be some backtracking. The Rocky Mountain News and Denver Post say some players believe the USA Today article took things a bit too far and exaggerated the influence of faith on the team. So either the newspaper got it wrong, which is certainly possible, or the team doesn’t want “bad publicity” over the fact that many of its players hold Christian prayer meetings instead of partying.

The world is upside-down. Sigh.

Jason at Texas Rainmaker e-mails:

Indeed. It’s amazing that good character is “newsworthy”. That says more about the state of society than anything.

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