Last night was the opening ceremony for the 2024 Olympics in Paris. It’s fair to say that opinion was divided about how well the entire thing went. Personally, I enjoyed the athletes’ parade in boats down the Seine; it made a pleasant change from the standard walk around a stadium. Celine Dion sang magnificently, especially given her health problems and the Minions were wonderful.
However, there was one tableau in the center which I discovered somewhat strange, when a bunch including drag queens appeared to mimic Leonardo’s Last Supper. It’s hard to grasp the motivation behind this piece. My suspicion is that the producers (those doing the mise en Seine – sorry) thought that it might be funny – in any case the Minions had just mocked one other Leonardo masterpiece. It probably occurred to them that some Christians might get offended by the show, but I think that in La France Laique they didn’t worry about that.
So what did I feel of it? Well, I discovered it offensive, I also found it childish. It gave the look of a sixth form school play where the pupils were attempting to get away with something offensive, but unsure methods to really do it well. Hopefully, they’ll grow out of it!
But hang about; take a have a look at this text from the Guardian. The report found an estimated 216,000 children were victims of sexual violence by French Catholic priests, deacons and other clergy from 1950 to 2020. When lay members of the Church, resembling teachers and catechism supervisors, were included, the figure rose to no less than 330,000 children sexually abused over 70 years.
Have you bought that? A 3rd of one million children abused by adults within the Church over 70 years. That is horrendous. While I retain my right to be offended, I can fully understand why people in France might see Christianity in a negative light. Frankly, for those who are more bothered by a silly tableau within the opening ceremony than you’re by the abuse of a whole bunch of 1000’s of kids who’re created within the image of god, you then are missing something significant.
Yes, we now have a right to be offended, but we also must stop and take into consideration why some people is perhaps so keen to offend us in the primary place. Much of the Christian response that I’ve seen online appears to be kind of devoid of self-reflection or understanding.
OK, with that in mind, I still think it was a silly thing for the organisers to do. France has a secular structure, it has little or no, if any, place for religion in public life. However, this ceremony was alleged to be welcoming people from the world over, people from countries where religion is amazingly essential. The parody, or mockery of Jesus is offensive to Christians and Muslims and that features huge numbers of the athletes from countries outside of Europe.
Bienvenue en France? I do not think so.
Eddie Arthur is a missiologist and has spent many many years translating Scripture with Wycliffe Bible Translators. This post first appeared on his blog, KouyaNet, and is printed here with permission.Â
