What’s the best Christian response to the 2024 Olympics’ mockery of Christianity?
You might have been forgiven for thinking that God had spoken in Paris last night, as the heavens opened and the rain came crashing down on the 2024 Olympics opening ceremony in unseasonal and near-apocalyptic bucketfuls.
One of the main takeaways for UK viewers was the image of our Prime Minister Keir Starmer – not a man known normally for making public appearances on a Friday evening – sitting stoically for hours in the downpour in his cagoule, surrounded by shivering spectators cowering in their plastic ponchos. Clearly here was a man whose metal has been forged with a Premiership season ticket. Unfortunately other Prime Ministers haven’t weathered torrential downpours quite so well.
If the return of the legendary Celine Dion, Lady Gaga and a big bunch of fireworks saved the Olympic opening ceremony, there were plenty of other moments that threatened to bury it, not least the multiple headless singing Marie Antoinettes peering out from the windows of the Conciergerie on the banks of the Seine, and the almost endless journey of an animated metal horse along the Seine carrying the Olympic flag which was eventually hoisted with great pomp – upside down! Even before the weary horse and its rider had reached its goal there were whispers of Revelation 6:8 and the forth horseman of the apocalypse.
You could put much of this down to the kind of glitches and misjudgements that might hit any global outdoor event of this magnitude, but there were far fewer explanations – or indeed justifications – for what unfolded on one of Paris’s iconic bridges as the barges carrying the 2024 Olympians slid beneath.
As part of a bizarre ‘fashion show’ that even had the most woke of commentators uncomfortably bemused, 18 motley dancers and performers – including three familiar Drag Race France queens – presented a highly sexualised show and then struck poses behind what looked like a long table with the Seine and the Eiffel Tower in the background. At its centre was an ornately dressed woman with a large silver headdress resembling a halo, whilst either side of her brightly coloured figures appeared deep in conversation. The resemblance to artistic depictions of the Last Supper was immediate – as was the global uproar that burst across social media.
“This is crazy. Opening your event by replacing Jesus and the disciples at the Last Supper with men in drag,” Clint Russel, the host of the popular US Liberty Lockdown podcast, fumed on X.
“There are 2.4 billion Christians on earth and apparently the Olympics wanted to declare loudly to all of them, right out of the gate NOT WELCOME,” said Russel.
Even Tesla boss Elon Musk berated the performance, saying it was “extremely disrespectful to Christians.”
“Christianity has become toothless,” he added.
Of course there were those who showered equal praise on the display, especially as it followed hot on the high heels of three drag queens carrying Olympic torches for the first time, and US presidential Kamala Harris’s carefully choreographed appearance and supportive monologue the day before on RuPaul’s Drag Race all Stars programme.
Of course France has a long and very public history of robust mockery, and in particular mockery of religious belief. Like most western nations it’s past is littered with persecutions and pogroms, but more recently the French have prided themselves on a particular kind of tolerance, freedom of speech and disregard for the preciousness of others – which is all very commendable, so long as one isn’t living in a modern, highly unstable world where expressing of the wrong kind of opinion can have disastrous and tragic consequences, as the staff of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo discovered on 7th January 2015.
It’s also the kind of loose and controversial outlook that can create a broader social and cultural tensions with deadly consequences. More than a few French Catholics pointed out that yesterday (26th July) was also the day that Fr Jacques Hamel was brutally slain while celebrating Mass in his Normandy church in 2016 by two Muslim men pledging allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
Fr Jaques was by all accounts a remarkable example of a genuinely Christian life. As a young man he had served in the military in Algeria for 18 months but declined to become an officer because he did not want to ever have to issue orders to kill. After he retired as a Catholic priest at 75 he continued to serve his parish as an assistant priest and had even worked with the local iman on an interfaith committee.
As global outrage to the Olympic ‘Last Supper’ gaffe gathered momentum overnight, many French Catholics were quick to express their own outrage, and even took to churches to offer prayers of reparation. Leading US prelate Bishop Robert Barron of Minnesota called on Catholics to “make their voices heard” in response to what he called “the gross mockery of the Last Supper.” He also described the blasphemous act as emblematic of a “deeply secularist postmodern society” that identifies Christianity as its enemy.
We do not know yet whether or not the Catholic Church will make any formal representations to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) about this incident, but it might be worth a try. After all a relatively minor gaffe by one of the ceremony announcers that saw South Korea labelled north Korea has all but brought the roof down on the IOC who instantly responded “we apologise deeply for the mistake that occurred when introducing the South Korean team”. For its part the South Korean National Olympic Committee has already sent a formal letter of protest and plans to meet with the Paris Olympics Organising Committee and the IOC to voice their protest and request measures to prevent a recurrence. It seems if you are a global cultural and technological powerhouse an apology is no problem; if you’re a community of 2.4 billion Christians you’re probably on your own.
Elon Musk’s remark that Christianity has become toothless is both apposite in this situation, and worrisome – not least because he’s entirely right. Christianity has long been the softest of targets for those who have a broad resentment to people of faith. Needless to say much of the social media backlash to last night’s Lord’s Supper debacle focussed on the unlikelihood of a similar disrespect being shown for Islam. Even if that’s entirely true it’s incredibly dangerous rhetoric that only adds to religious division, and even threatens to ‘weaponise’ Christianity.
The general response to existential attacks on our faith tends to be Matthew 5:38-40 – 38 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’39 But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. 40 And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well.”
Unfortunately this polarity of response tends to leave Christians thinking that they either have to roll over in some vague celestial and pacifist hope that even in our chaotic and dangerous world good will out eventually, or we have to gird our loins, arm ourselves to the teeth and set out on the 10th Crusade.
But neither of these two extremes is likely to garner a positive outcome – especially for Christians – and frankly neither represents the radical response of Jesus to the problem of persecution. His command in Matthew 22:39 to “love your neighbour as yourself” is probably one of the most complex and challenging five-word statements ever uttered. As Christians it calls on use to develop a better and more tolerant understanding of those whose outlook and belief systems may differ sharply from ours, but it also gives us the right to expect the respect of others for our contrary views.
Traditionally Christianity has taken the view that not only does it have a sacred and cherished set of beliefs, but there is an evangelical obligation to make others aware of, and of course adhere to, those particular values. There has been little tolerance that for some this process might be more in the nature of a journey than a singular decision. Christianity too has always struggled with the contradiction that apparently everyone is valued, but evidently not everyone is accepted. Seen from the outside this hardly resembles a welcome, but feels profoundly like a hypocritical rejection. Given such a position, it’s hardly surprising that the response is to lampoon and denigrate the institution.
In the years ahead this problem is only going to increase significantly, as society’s hastening dash towards secularisation and relativism gathers pace. This societal trend will only deepen divisions and even further marginalise people and communities of faith. What’s needed urgently is a mechanism whereby faith communities can both express freely their theological principles (but without judging others) whilst at the same time contemporary liberalised society lives up to its much-loved claim that it is tolerant of all peoples, and all world views. And we Christians must gain the eloquence and confidence to express that correctly, firmly and considerately in the public sphere.
In many respects Bishop Barron is right when he says that incidents like the Olympic drag display are emblematic of a “deeply secularist postmodern society” that identifies Christianity as its enemy. However, it’s largely our fault that it does.
Joseph Kelly is a Catholic writer and theologian