5 pro athletes who boldly take a knee — for Jesus Christ



When most athletes look back on their glory days, it's the game-winning plays and the intense team camaraderie they want to relive.

Not former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick.

'My victory was secure on the cross ... and it doesn't matter if I win this tournament or lose this tournament.'

Ten years after he first knelt in protest during the National Anthem, the onetime culture warrior has written a book. His publisher describes "The Perilous Fight" as "equal parts memoir and manifesto."

Kaepernick may miss that era — after opting out of his contract in 2017, he never played for another NFL team again — but it's safe to say most fans are happy to have moved on.

In fact, there's been a different kind of rebellion brewing in pro sports lately — quieter and less disruptive, but no less profound.

Players taking a knee today are more likely doing it to pray than posture — and they don't seem especially concerned with who's watching.

While faith has always had its place in sports, this boldness is something new. These aren't symbolic gestures or vague references to "the man upstairs" but unabashed statements of conviction: Christ comes first.

Here are five Christian athletes proudly living their faith.

1. C.J. Stroud

Stroud doesn't treat faith as a postgame add-on. The Houston Texans quarterback consistently credits his success to God.

Even after a career-worst performance led to a crushing playoff loss against the Patriots, Stroud kept it in perspective: "Before I do anything, I want to give God the glory — my Lord and savior, Jesus Christ. Without Him, I'm nothing. I just appreciate Him giving me this opportunity, this platform to play this great game with this great organization."

2. Brock Purdy

Brooke Sutton/Getty Images

49ers quarterback Brock Purdy may have been last pick in the 2022 NFL draft, but his subsequent success has shown he's no "Mr. Irrelevant." His legendary predecessor Steve Young says that makes sense, considering that the greatest QBs aren't flashy, but "at peace."

The secret to Purdy's serenity? Founding his identity on faith, not football: "No matter what I’m going to face moving forward ... football, God, and Jesus are going to be my identity."

3. Scottie Scheffler

Andrew Redington/Getty Images

For someone who's the highest ranked golfer in the world, Scottie Scheffler doesn't seem too interested in keeping score.

After his second Masters victory in 2024, the 29-year-old made it clear that he's got his eyes on a higher prize.

"My buddies told me this morning, my victory was secure on the cross," he said. "And that's a pretty special feeling to know that I'm secure for forever, and it doesn't matter if I win this tournament or lose this tournament. My identity is secure for forever."

4. Clayton Kershaw

Michael Chisholm/Getty Images

Clayton Kershaw was always the kind of player who let his performance do the talking. Over 18 years pitching for the Dodgers, the left-hander racked up three Cy Young awards, 3,000 strikeouts, and three World Series titles — including last year's, his final season.

He brings that quiet excellence to his life as a Christian as well, putting his time and energy into Kershaw's Challenge, the Christian charity he and his wife run. When the Dodgers insisted on holding "Pride Night" in 2025, he countered by writing "Genesis 9:12-16" on his hat — drawing attention to the rainbow's older, sacred meaning.

5. Stephen Curry

Ezra Shaw/Getty Images

Stephen Curry may have been born into basketball — his father played for the Charlotte Hornets — but it was his family's deep faith that formed his life.

Early in his career as a Golden State Warrior, the gifted point guard made his priorities clear:

The Holy Spirit is moving through our locker room in a way I’ve never experienced before. It’s allowing us to reach a lot of people, and personally I am just trying to use this stage to share how God has been a blessing to my life and how He can be the same in everyone else’s.

More than a decade later, Curry is still at the top of his game — and making sure his three kids get the same faith-first upbringing he did.

MLB star reclaims the rainbow — then shatters a core leftist lie



It took only one Bible passage to expose the myth of leftist "tolerance."

On June 13, the Los Angeles Dodgers hosted their annual "Pride Night," a celebration of LGBTQ ideology and activism. As part of the special night, Dodgers players wore special-edition team caps featuring the Dodgers logo overlaid with rainbow colors.

Christians believe that Jesus is Lord of all creation — including over culture, identity, and sexuality.

Enter Clayton Kershaw, the teams's 10-time All-Star pitcher and committed Christian. He decided to add his own special touch to his cap. Inscribed next to the rainbow-colored team logo, Kershaw wrote: Gen. 9:12-16.

It was a subtle yet powerful reminder that the LGBTQ lobby does not own the rainbow — but God does.

Bible basics

The passage that Kershaw referenced on his cap points to one of the most famous stories in the Bible.

After God destroyed the earth with the flood, God made a covenant with his servant Noah and all creation in which he promised never again to destroy creation with the chaos waters. The sign of that covenant, God explained, is the rainbow.

Genesis 9:12–16:

And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all future generations: I have placed my bow in the clouds, and it will be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Whenever I form clouds over the earth and the bow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all the living creatures: water will never again become a flood to destroy every creature. The bow will be in the clouds, and I will look at it and remember the permanent covenant between God and all the living creatures on earth.”

The Hebrew word for "bow" in Genesis 9 is the same Hebrew word that means a bow used in war and hunting. Interestingly, nearly every usage of the word in the Old Testament refers to the weapon, the only exceptions being in Genesis 9 and Ezekiel 1:28.

The meaning of the rainbow is significant: It's a sign of God's power, his promises, and his mercy — not personal pride in sin and anti-God ideologies.

Leftist (in)tolerance

Like clockwork, leftists (ironically) unable to coexist with people who disagree with them blasted Kershaw. One viral X post summed up their outrage.

"Clayton Kershaw will always be a Dodger great, but it’s things like this that make him a lot less likable. Just wear the hat. Be a tolerant Christian and accept that there are others who believe differently than you," the post reads.

The message behind the post is obvious: Submit. Shut up. Keep your Christianity to yourself.

This is the kind of "tolerance" leftists demand. It no longer means disagreeing respectfully or giving people space to live by their own reasonable convictions. In the leftist worldview, "tolerance" is a one-way street — and there's no room for any views but theirs.

Ironically, the demand for "tolerance" pretends that a double standard doesn't exist. While leftists want Christians to be tolerant of the LGBTQ agenda, they're simultaneously demonstrating intolerance for Christianity. Leftist "tolerance" is a core lie of the liberal agenda, and it's how you know the demand for "tolerance" from everyone else is not genuine.

Truth untamed

To modern leftists, "tolerance" is silence, compliance, affirmation, and total surrender — or else. The problem is that Christianity doesn't operate on these terms.

Faith in Jesus is not a hobby. It's an all-encompassing truth claim that changes literally everything. Christians believe that Jesus is Lord of all creation — including over culture, identity, and sexuality.

To be "tolerant" in the way that leftists demand — such as embracing, promoting, and affirming anti-God ideologies — would require Christians to reject the lordship of Jesus Christ. This "tolerance" guts Christianity of its moral clarity and truth claims, and it reduces Jesus to a private guru who never makes demands of us. And the "tolerant" Jesus that leftists imagine certainly never contradicts LGBTQ ideology.

But the real Jesus doesn't bend to the leftist agenda. Real Christianity bears witness to truth, speaks with conviction, and refuses to be muzzled. When God's truth is weaponized and his symbols are co-opted for anti-God ideologies, Christians must stand up and speak out with conviction, wisdom, and clarity.

That's exactly what Kershaw did. Leftists hate this because biblical truth spoken by bold Christians is both a light that illuminates leftist lies and a disinfectant that wipes them away.

Reclaim the rainbow

In this cultural moment, Christians live under constant pressure to compromise. Leftists love Christians who stay quiet, keep their heads down, and privatize their faith, but despise Christians who dare challenge the leftist agenda and stand up for biblical truth.

But Kershaw didn't back down. His simple protest reclaimed the true meaning of the rainbow, exposed the leftist double standard on "tolerance," and reminded Christians how to act courageously in a culture that looks down on biblical truth.

Let us follow Kershaw's lead.

Reclaim the rainbow. Boldly stand on God's truth. And never cower to leftist demands for "tolerance."

Christian LA Dodgers pitcher defies Pride Night with subtle in-game protest



Los Angeles Dodgers star pitcher Clayton Kershaw continued his disagreement with the team's celebration of gay pride with his own religious protest Friday night.

Kershaw has taken issue with the Dodgers' support of LGBT activists for years, especially in 2023, when the franchise invited anti-Christian activist group the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence to celebrate Pride Night at Dodger Stadium. The activist group consists of drag queens who dress as caricatures of Catholic nuns.

The pitcher said he felt the group was making fun of his faith and called for the Dodgers to host a day in support of Christian families. During Dodgers' Pride Night on Friday, Kershaw's battle continued as cameras caught him in the dugout performing a subtle yet obvious protest.

'I don't agree with making fun of other people’s religions.'

Kershaw was indeed wearing the Dodgers' Pride hat but wrote a Bible passage right next to the rainbow-colored team logo.

"Gen 9:12-16," Kershaw's hat read.

In the King James Bible, the passage states the following:

And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth. And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud: and I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh. And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.

RELATED: 'It's a blatant anti-Catholic message': Nationals pitcher blasts Dodgers organization ahead of LA team's Pride Night

The Dodgers lost Friday's game against the San Francisco Giants 6-2, but Kershaw did not pitch that night. On Saturday, however, Kershaw got the nod and threw seven scoreless innings, giving up just three hits with five strikeouts; the Dodgers won 11-5.

The 37-year-old has not spoken out this year in the same manner he did in 2023, when he provided vocal opposition to what the Dodgers were promoting.

"I don't agree with making fun of other people’s religions," Kershaw told the L.A. Times that year. "It has nothing to do with anything other than that. I just don't think that, no matter what religion you are, you should make fun of somebody else's religion. So that’s something that I definitely don’t agree with."

At the same time, Dodgers pitcher Blake Treinen said in 2023 that the activist group was "mocking the religious habits of nuns" and "mocking what we hold most deeply."

RELATED: Blake Treinen denounces Dodgers' endorsement of anti-Christian bigotry: 'My convictions in Jesus Christ will always come first'

The 12th annual LGBTQ+ Pride Night at Dodger Stadium on June 13, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Sarah Morris/Getty Images

While the Dodgers agreed to host a Christian Faith and Family Day in July 2023, it does not appear to be scheduled on the team's calendar again for 2025.

The team will, however, celebrate Law Enforcement Night on August 17.

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