In my post regarding the Milledge deal, I jocularly opined that my mother would find a silver lining to the trade if it could be established that Brian Schneider was Jewish. This morning a comment came in from Metsdude letting me know that: a) Schneider was not in fact Jewish; and b) Ryan Church has some very definitive thoughts on the topic of Judaism in general. I thought Metsdude was perhaps pulling my leg, but this is not the case.

In September 2005, the Nationals issued an apology from Ryan Church after he was quoted in a front page Washington Post article as suggesting that Jews are headed for eternal damnation.

Damn, there goes my chance of ever meeting Elvis.

It should also be noted that Ryan Church is certainly not an anti-semite. In fact, the whole question of the the post-earthly status of jews was raised in the context of Church once having a Jewish girlfriend. Specifically, he had sought out a pastor for advice about this particular girlfriend, and emerged from his meeting with a rather evangelical bent, stating:

“I said, like, Jewish people, they don’t believe in Jesus. Does that mean they’re doomed? Jon nodded, like, that’s what it meant. My ex-girlfriend! I was like, man, if they only knew. Other religions don’t know any better. It’s up to us to spread the word.”

Well, on behalf of all Jews (or at least those who are willing to let me speak for them), I’m willing to give “Church as pass” (which, ironically, I’ve been doing for the last 35 years being a Jew and all). But, that being said, did Lastings Milledge ever utter words even remotely this ignorant?