Faith and sports collided heavily in mid-June as Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Ryan Thompson weighed in on one of Major League Baseball’s hottest current topics.
The discussion began after several San Francisco Giants pitchers, including Landen Roupp, wrote Bible references on their Pride Night hats during a recent game. Roupp wrote Genesis 9:12-16, a passage that describes God’s covenant with Noah and the rainbow as a sign of that promise.
The decision sparked debate across baseball.
Some viewed the gesture as a statement against Pride Night and the LGBTQ community, while Roupp explained that his intention was to express what the rainbow represents within his Christian faith.
The MLB later issued a warning to players, stating that writing messages on uniforms violated league policy regardless of the content.
Now, Thompson—who plays for Arizona, not San Francisco—is adding his voice to the conversation. Speaking publicly about the situation, Thompson pushed back against the assumption that a statement of faith automatically represents opposition toward others.
“A lot of the hate comes from perceived negativity,” Thompson said. “I think that there’s a perceived negativity with this stuff. Like, Landen Roupp wrote a verse on his hat, that means that he’s anti-something. That doesn’t mean that, right? It means that he’s pro-something.”
For Thompson, the issue came down to understanding motivation and the meaning behind the message.
“So, the rainbow means something to him,” Thompson continued. “It means that he believes in the Noahic covenant being something that’s special to us as Christians, right? That means that no matter how bad we possibly could be, no matter how much we reject God, that He will never again flood the earth.”
The Noahic covenant comes from the book of Genesis, where, after the flood, God promises Noah that He will never again destroy the earth with a flood. The rainbow is given as a sign of that covenant and has carried theological significance for Christians throughout history.
For Thompson, Roupp’s message was not about what he opposed, but rather what he believed.
“There’s nothing negative, there’s nothing anti, there’s nothing that says that he doesn’t support anything, or that he’s hateful, or anything like that at all,” Thompson said. “It’s all positive. It’s all like, man, this is what the rainbow means to me. I just thought that was really cool that he did that.”
The situation highlights an ongoing conversation in professional sports about personal conviction, team initiatives, and how athletes express their beliefs publicly. It is a balance many Christian athletes continue to navigate. Professional sports provide a significant platform, but that platform often comes with increased scrutiny over how players represent their beliefs, values, and convictions.
For many athletes, faith is not simply a private part of their lives left away from the field. It influences how they approach competition, relationships with teammates, success, failure, and the responsibilities that come with being in the public eye. Thompson’s comments also point toward a larger discussion around how quickly assumptions can form in today’s sports culture. In his view, there is a difference between expressing what someone believes and making a statement against someone else.
Throughout baseball and professional sports as a whole, players have long used their platforms to share personal messages, whether through interviews, charitable efforts, equipment choices, or moments after games. For Christian athletes, those expressions often include references to Scripture and the role faith plays in their lives.
That reality has become increasingly visible as athletes are given more opportunities to share their stories beyond the field of play. Post-game interviews, social media platforms, and league-wide events have created more spaces for athletes to discuss the things that matter most to them.
For some, that may involve speaking about family, community initiatives, or causes close to their hearts. For others, including many Christian athletes, it involves sharing the role faith has played in shaping who they are.
For Thompson, the takeaway was simple: expression of belief should not automatically be viewed through the lens of opposition. “It’s all positive,” he said.
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