Christians leaders are calling on Major League Baseball to ban players from using chewing tobacco.

The Southern Baptist Convention, Untied Methodist Church and other large denominations are part of the coalition pushing for the ban.

Smokeless tobacco is already prohibited in the minor leagues and college. Now, religous groups want the major leagues to follow suit.

They say players must recognize they are harming themselves and poorly influencing children who idolize them.

Pat Sullivan, the 1971 Heisman Trophy winner and current football coach at Samford University, used smokeless tobacco for 25 years before he developed throat cancer.

Click play for Pat Sullivan's comments to CBN News on his experience with tobacco use.

"It's a person's right. They can do what they want to do. But if anybody had to go through throat cancer and the treatment you go through," Sullivan said. "A lot of people say it's the toughest treatment for cancer that you can go through and I certainly agree with that."

Statistics show smokeless tobacco use among high school boys is up 36 percent since 2003.

Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig told players on opening day he is making this issue a priority.