Ridicule Of Christianity At Olympics Goes Beyond Hurt Feelings

There are more important things to worry about these days than sports, in all its various forms. In a world in which Islamist terrorists have been allowed to continue to run amuck and in which antisemitism is surging around the globe—not to mention efforts to overturn democracy in the name of saving it—the fact that elements of an Olympic Games opening ceremony were, at the very least, an example of bad taste, is not that big a deal. And even if you believe, as most sensible people do, that one part of the show was an obvious parody of Christianity’s Last Supper and meant to mock a faith shared by about 2 billion people on this planet, you can always change the channel and watch something else.

As tempting as it may be to turn away from a topic that quickly became an overheated and often foolish debate on social-media platforms to something more edifying, the contempt that organizers of the Paris games showed for traditional imagery of Christian faith should not be dismissed as just another Internet kerfuffle. The inclusion of that segment must be seen as part of a broader cultural debate about something very serious. Only at a time when the political left is waging war on the canon of Western civilization and seeking its replacement with an intersectional, secular neo-Marxist orthodoxy would it be not merely possible, but considered mandatory among our cultural elites, to pour scorn on traditional faith.

For those who didn’t see it live or watch it repeated endlessly online in the following 48 hours, it might be too late, as the Olympics are now doing everything they can to scrub it from the Internet—an effort they punctuated with a classic non-apologetic apology in which they claimed that no offense was intended. Yet despite the predictable efforts of some on the left, including a New York Times article, to make the world disbelieve the evidence of their own eyes, the intention to insult was obvious. What was shown was a fairly obvious parody of Leonardo Da Vinci’s “Last Supper,” featuring a plus-sized, halo-clad woman described by admirers as an “LGBTQ icon” surrounded by drag queens in the attitudes of the Christian apostles, as well as a scantily clad man in blue paints and others in various states of exposure.

Ridiculing Christianity

In this manner, a sacred scene of Christianity was held up for ridicule. And in what is now part of every such controversy, those who did the insulting on a global telecast that is believed to have been watched live by 29 million people are claiming to be the victims. Indeed, the person who played the role of the Jesus character in the parody—a drag artist who goes by the name of Barbara Butch, who was subjected to a torrent of abuse online for her performance—says she wants to sue unnamed parties for what she claims are the “anti-Semitic, homophobic, sexist and grossophobic insults” that have been hurled at her.

In a show that also featured a version of executed French Queen Marie Antoinette singing while carrying the head that revolutionaries cut off at the site where she and her children were jailed and abused, perhaps the slur at Christians can be put down as simply another attempt to demonstrate the organizers’ disdain for good taste. It is crucial to note, however, that all this is meant to symbolize global unity and coming together. As is always true for those who promote the woke catechism of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), only some people deserve to be included in the new secular religion. Christians are obviously not welcome, and that should trouble everyone, whether or not they share this faith.

What deserves condemnation here is not just the bad taste and the disrespect shown a major faith to glorify transgressive behavior. It’s that the Olympics, the networks that run it and the sponsors that pay for it are telling us that they share the organizers’ derision for one faith that is associated with Western culture.

They didn’t mock any Muslims

It’s equally important to note that the one faith signaled out for this contempt is Christianity and not Islam—a religion closely associated with some of the worst terrorist violence and intolerance for other beliefs. It’s not just that it was in the same city only nine years ago that terrorists slaughtered the staff of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo for daring to criticize Muslims. It’s that the same liberal elites, both in France and the United States, are determined to brand any criticism of the hate that comes out of Islamist radicals and their many followers as “Islamophobia,” a largely fake cause that Vice President Kamala Harris has taken up and falsely compared to the very real threat from antisemitism.

What makes this outrage all the more insufferable and troubling is that it was included in an event that is supposed to transcend not just politics and world affairs, but also to bring us all together in one global community to cheer for excellence and fair competition.

Of course, even though athletic greatness is part of every Games, the notion that the “Olympic movement” lives up to any of those high ideals has always been pure bunk.

Though you wouldn’t think it possible if you’re among those who are glued to coverage of the events, it is possible to ignore the whole thing. Despite the staggering self-importance that is attached to the Games (and the absurd way many people confuse playing a game in a uniform with a country’s name on it with actual patriotism or service to that nation or any higher cause), it is just a television show.

During the Games, most of the audience watches events they don’t have the least interest in, except for two weeks once every four years. That means that the Olympics basically presents sports for people who don’t like sports. The athletes, especially those who normally toil in obscurity, may deserve respect, even if some of the competitions that have no roots in the ancient Greek games are strictly for entertainment value. Without TV and the lure of watching young, athletically fit people in bathing suits, would anyone have thought of including surfing or beach volleyball as an Olympic sport? There’s nothing intrinsically wrong with any of it, but treating it as anything more than a visual extravaganza is misleading.

The Olympics would be inoffensive if it was merely an international tournament of sporting events that normally attract little interest. What is offensive is the idea that there is idealism involved, even if Olympian hypocrisy about amateurism is a thing of the past. The notion that the Olympics transcend politics has always been a myth.

A toxic brew of nationalism

From its earliest days, politics and national rivalries have always been a feature and not a bug of the Games. Mixing nationalism and sports is a toxic brew since once flags and anthems become included in this sort of thing, athletic competitions become metaphors for conflicts that have nothing to do with sports. Plus, no matter who wins or loses, the results do nothing to elevate discourse or advance the causes of justice or peace.

Holding the Games has also often been a way for totalitarian and authoritarian regimes to show off their prowess to the world and downplay their tyrannical practices. The worst example of this was in 1936 in Berlin, where contrary to American mythology about track star Jesse Owens exposing the Nazis to ridicule, the event was actually a huge triumph for Adolf Hitler and his regime, helping to bolster support for the appeasement of Germany in the 1930s.

Nor was that the last such example. The same could be said for the way the Chinese Communist Party showcased its regime at the 2008 Beijing Summer Games with few speaking up about its actions in Tibet and repressive rule. Vladimir Putin’s Russian regime may be considered beyond the pale now after the invasion of Ukraine, but it benefited enormously from hosting the 2014 Sochi Winter Games—the same year Russia’s first invasion of eastern Ukraine took place—setting the stage for the expansion of his tyranny.

Remembering Munich

Then there’s the treatment of Israel and the Jews. The Olympic Movement should never be allowed to escape the shame of the Black September Palestinian terrorist attack on Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Summer Games. After the slaughter of 11 Israeli athletes and coaches, the Games went on with business as usual. It also took more than 40 years for the Olympics to officially commemorate the tragedy, and even this year, the memorial was held privately and not at the Opening Ceremony since it’s clear that the Olympic committee and their French hosts are more afraid of upsetting antisemites and Israel-haters than in remembering how a sports venue became the setting for a terrorist outrage.

The same applies to the fact that Israelis were forbidden from adding a yellow ribbon to signify the fate of the hostages taken by Hamas on Oct. 7 while a Palestinian athlete was allowed to wear a shirt supposedly depicting Israelis killing children. In another incident the next day, the playing of Hatikvah at a soccer game between Israel and Paraguay, many in the crowd chanted “Heil Hitler” and gave the Nazi salute. Such antics should only add to our collective outrage.

It’s true that small nations, as well as large ones, look to the Games as a way to highlight their national pride at an international spectacle. That is certainly true for Israel, whose people understandably glory in every instance where their underdog athletes have overcome prejudice and bad sportsmanship from opponents to win. Still, no matter how much you may like athletic competitions—and I count myself as someone who loves sports—whatever small good that may come from any Olympics never cancels out the bad.

This year that was already proved at an opening ceremony that went out of its way to demonstrate the contempt of the global chattering classes when it comes to Christians and their faith. In doing so, they proved again that those who talk the most about inclusion are far more interested in excluding those who disagree with them, especially when regarding traditional faith and societal mores. All people of faith, but especially a Jewish community that is itself also targeted by woke ideology, should be as outraged as Christians. The war on the West is as much a war on Jews as it is on Christians.

Rather than sweeping this controversy under the rug, we should take it seriously. It is one more indication of the stakes involved in the ongoing culture war in which notions like critical race theory, intersectionality and gender ideology are seeking to replace the traditions of the West that are the foundation of the family, democracy and equality with neo-Marxist groupthink. Watch the Games or boycott them as you like. But those who value our traditions, as well as the safety of people of faith, should take this incident as another warning that silent assent to these terrible ideas is neither possible nor wise.

Jonathan S. Tobin is editor-in-chief of Jewish News Syndicate.