The Olympics is Not About You

“Full woke dystopia.”

That’s how journalist Kyle Becker described this year’s Olympic opening ceremony.

And he was far from alone — prominent conservatives and Christians from around the world called the ceremony “satanic,” “disrespectful to Christians,” and “a war on our faith.”

The epicenter of the outrage was one particular moment featuring a group of people dressed in drag posed in a scene reminiscent of Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper.

These responses caught me off guard because I watched the opening ceremony and it did not occur to me, a Christian, to be offended.

My purpose is not to debate the moral intricacies of drag; I understand that Christians from different backgrounds, cultures, and life experiences can interpret the Bible and the teachings of Jesus differently and that we will often disagree.

I understand that there are many Christians and church leaders that interpret drag as sinful, and its recent growth in popularity has been a topic of controversy and contention within more conservative communities.

I attempt to make space for the reality that I can be wrong in all areas of my life. I believe that a new voice or perspective can change the way I think without changing the core of who I am or detracting from the truth of the gospel. Disagreeing with someone doesn’t mean seeing their view as invalid or refusing to acknowledge the merit of where they come from.

Knowing Jesus means learning to love those that disagree with or offend us. It means stepping aside to love our neighbor as ourselves. And it means living a life filled with a frustrating amount of empathy, humility, and self-sacrifice. Which is why I have been so disappointed with the public outrage surrounding this entire event.

God was not mocked

Those who were offended by the ceremony referred to it as a “war on faith” and “an intentional choice to mock Christians and Christianity.” Many posted Galatians 6:7 and assured followers that “God is not mocked.”

And right they were. God was not mocked. When confronted, both the artistic director of the ceremony and the International Olympic Committee stated that the scene was not meant to offend or keep Christians away. 

Both Thomas Jolly (the director) and the IOC explained that the intention was to depict the Feast of Dionysus and apologized for any feelings of offense the scene may have caused.

The fact that so many people immediately jumped to a position of aggravated combat reflects the individualism and ethnocentrism that runs rampant in western Christianity.

As members of the dominant culture, we’re quick to interpret the world through our particular lens and slow to understand or acknowledge that perhaps, not everything is about us. The curse of social power is that it’s easy to forget that you are not at the center of everyone’s world.

Addressing cultural realities

One of the most famous paintings in history, The Last Supper is as much a piece of Renaissance art and culture as it is a piece of religious symbolism, if not more so. 

Leonardo da Vinci depicted this scene using a group of white men.

Thomas Jolly depicted this scene using a group of people dressed in drag.

Neither was historically accurate.

Over the years, this scene has been reenacted by the likes of The Sopranos, Battlestar Galactica, and even The Smurfs. Jolly's iteration, however, has been the only one to elicit such a fiery reaction.

For people who are not Christians (62% of France; 70% of the world), The Last Supper is simply a famous piece of art documenting a famous historical scene. It holds no holy significance.

France is not a Christian nation.

The IOC is not an Christian organization.

Neither are obliged to conform to the norms and standards of Christianity and expecting such reflects the sense of entitlement that has intimately weaved itself into Christian culture since the mother of James and John asked for places of honor for her sons (Matthew 20:21) or the apostles argued about who among them was the greatest (Luke 22:24).

It’s not about the offense

My intent is not to mock or critique those who truly felt offended by the scene. Just because I wasn’t doesn’t mean I think it’s invalid or wrong that others were. If this experience was offensive to someone’s values or way of life, I absolutely want to make space for that.

Rather, I am disappointed by the anger and combativeness with which these loud voices reacted.

I am disappointed by the outcry from the dominant cultural group who believed that their preferences and ideologies needed to be the primary concern of the International Olympic Committee.

I am disappointed by the assumption that this ceremony was about attacking them.

The Olympics are a production for the entire world. Planning such an event requires navigating a cacophony of disparate cultures, traditions and beliefs. It is simply impossible to appease everyone and I’m frustrated by those who feel they deserve immunity from such an experience.

To those who have reacted so loudly: why?

What is behind all the anger?

Why did the mere presence of drag queens cause such a stir?

Was it that they were sitting at a sacred table? A table that was, until this point, (inaccurately) reserved for white men?

Or was it the immediate assumption that the scene was an attack on Christianity? That the left was making an intentional choice to mock everything we hold dear?

Moving forward

Those who are offended have two choices: to keep toiling in anger and promoting the idea that they’ve been attacked or to choose to believe that the Olympic open ceremony wasn’t about them, that someone with a different background and worldview isn’t focusing his professional time and energy on their intentional harm.

They can choose retaliation and anger, further exacerbating the “us vs. them” divide that has become so pervasive in our culture, or they can choose to follow the words of Jesus in the sermon on the mount and approach these so-called enemies with selfless love.