Major League Baseball has become the latest tip of the spear in the culture wars. (Look out, apple pie: you’re next.) First, the Los Angeles Dodgers celebrated an activist group that mocks Catholics. Then, the Toronto Blue Jays demoted a player for expressing the religious beliefs of one-third of the country. Such actions threaten to turn the national pastime into another unwelcome example of what America is becoming—a polarized, politicized, and uncompromising place.

The trouble began when the Dodgers invited, disinvited, then re-invited an LGBT activist group known as the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence to celebrate the team’s “Pride Night.” The group’s members dress in habits that mock Catholic religious sisters, take on names that sexualize and pervert the Catholic faith and clergy, and cheekily encourage their followers to “go forth and sin some more!” In 2023, this ribaldry is, apparently, brave: the “Sisters” will get the team’s “Community Hero” award this Friday.

Traditionalists received another brushback pitch when Anthony Bass, a modestly successful relief pitcher, shared a video encouraging Christians to boycott Target over their Pride Month–themed merchandise, which has drawn criticism across the U.S. He was subsequently removed from Toronto’s roster, with the team’s general manager citing, at least in part, the “distraction” his actions caused.