Blasphemy

Blasphemy is a serious sin, “the prohibition against blasphemy extends to language against Christ’s Church, the saints, and sacred things…Blasphemy is contrary to the respect due God and his holy name. It is in itself a grave sin.” (CCC 2148) If the scene depicted in the opening ceremonies of the Olympic games was meant to mock the Last Supper, a painting portraying Jesus’s institution of the Eucharist on the night that he entered into His passion, it was blasphemy and grave sin indeed. Such an act from the elite of France, while heinous and deeply, rightfully offensive, is not shocking. France has been the playground of the devil since at least 1789. Throughout the French Revolution, a revolution often heralded as a victory for liberty and equality, the soil of France was soaked in the blood of the innocent.

Catholicism had been rejected by a nation once known as the eldest daughter of the Church. The goddess of reason was enshrined in the Notre Dame Cathedral, ritual worship of this man-made idol replacing the celebration of the sacraments. Even the seven-day week had been overhauled, replace with a ten- day system to discourage the country’s devout faithful from celebrating holy days. Carmelite nuns were marched through the street and beheaded in front of a cheering crowd for the crime of simply being faith Catholics as The Reign of Terror put to death swiftly and brutally any who opposed their decisions. Decisions made by the government without any consultation of the people they were claiming to represent as they ushered in a new era of democracy.

Such evil acts leave a lasting effect on a nation, and I believe those effects were on full display last week. Even if we accept the explanation that the scene was not intended to depict the Last Supper, but rather the Feast of the Gods, connecting the games to the Olympian Gods they are named after, we are left with a celebration of drunkenness, gluttony, and sexual deviation enacted in the presence of a child and broadcast to billions of people, including many more innocent children. We simply trade the sin of blasphemy for those of lust, gluttony, and scandal -hardly an improvement.

Regarding which picture was the inspiration for this, at best, distasteful scene it is worth noting that if it truly was meant to be an homage to the Feast of the Gods, there is a much more well-known version of that painting, by Giovanni Bellini, that could have been used without causing any confusion. A decision was made. A deliberate, intentional choice was made to reference a work of art by Jan van Bijlert, that itself resembled the Last Supper, ensuring that if there was outrage there would be plausible deniability. It would be easy to say, “oh you foolish, uneducated, easily offended Christians, this had nothing to do with you. It was obviously meant to honor Greek culture and if you are still offended it is because you are homophobic bigots. So sad, Christians are full of so much hate.” These sort of gaslighting statements have been made in order not only to cover the tracks of those who created and promoted the offensive opening ceremony, but also to shame us into silence.

Christians who speak out against what was blatantly evil are called stupid, ignorant, and hateful. I studied Greek as an undergraduate. I have a master’s degree in an interdisciplinary program that focused on theology, philosophy, and history. It would be disingenuous to call me uneducated or ignorant, and as to being hateful – well I can’t speak to that, but decades of service as a pastoral leader, and students who maintain relationships with me after they graduate seem to indicate otherwise. But, honestly, call me whatever you want. There is serious evil in the world, and this is no time to remain silent; if Christians can’t handle a little name-calling how will we ever be prepared to stand firm in the face of the serious persecution that is sure to come as we are asked time and again to not only tolerate but to embrace and celebration obvious sin.