Both Christians and Muslims around the world have been in uproar since  last Friday’s opening ceremony, which included a live-action parody of Da Vinci’s painting of the Last Supper featuring drag queens.

Although some claimed the event was actually a depiction of a feast of the Greek god Dionysus (a character who represented intoxication, revelry, dissipation, and erotic indulgence), this is highly debatable. A Dionysus character, which represents free expression and bodily indulgence, appears in the debacle, but either way, the images were anti-Christian, and it is more likely that the pagan pageantry was intentionally mocking The Last Supper and, thus, Christianity. How does that fit with the purported spirit of the Olympics?

The International Olympic Committee publishes on its website a statement of eighteen principles, which include the following four:

to encourage and support the promotion of ethics and good governance in sport as well as education of youth through sport…

to act against any form of discrimination affecting the Olympic Movement.

to promote a positive legacy from the Olympic Games to the host cities, regions and countries.

to promote safe sport and the protection of athletes from all forms of harassment and abuse.

Mocking an esteemed piece of art and the tradition of the world’s largest religion does not promote “ethics” (at least good ones). It is furthermore a form of “discrimination” against Christian sensibilities. It does not promote a “positive legacy.” It is a kind of “harassment and abuse” against Christians and against all who respect the Judeo-Christian tradition. The Olympic sponsors should thus be ashamed of themselves and repent.

What the Olympics Should Be

The Olympics should be an event that brings people and nations together through athletic competition. The best athletes in the world compete against each other for national pride. Sport is unique to human beings. Animals play, but not in settled patterns or with rules or scoring. Our engagement in sports is, thus, one of the many aspects of being human that bears witness to our uniqueness as being made in the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1:26-27; Psalm 8). Although its origins trace to ancient Greece and not ancient Israel, the Olympics evidence the uniqueness of God’s image bearers. The human body performing at its best indicates that we are “fearfully and wonderfully made” by the Creator, as David wrote (Psalm 139:14).

The Olympics also provide a stage for political and cultural commentary, since the eyes of the world are on the competitors. This platform — both figurative and literal — has sometimes been misused throughout history.

On October 16, 1968, two black athletes, Tommie Smith and John Carlos, each raised a black-gloved fist (the sign of black power) while the American national anthem played after they won a track race. Terrorists have frequently targeted the Olympics as well, most tragically on September 5, 1972, when eight Palestinian terrorists killed two members of the Israeli Olympic team and took nine others hostage, demanding the release of 200 Palestinian prisoners. After a shootout, the terrorists murdered all nine hostages.

The threat of terrorism is high at the 2024 Olympics as well, but an act of artistic and spiritual terrorism has already occurred during the opening ceremonies in its mockery of both the art and the reality of the Last Supper.

Why Mockery?

What does blasphemy against Christianity have to do with international athletic competitions? While no one would expect a particular religion to be advocated at the Olympics, why would Christianity be denigrated? It is a long story, but the short version is a tale of aesthetic and moral nihilism.

Christianity is the historical and cultural backbone of Western civilization. Greece and Rome played their part, but the deepest and most profound elements of our patrimony as a civilization come from Christianity — the freedom of conscience, universal human rights, representative civil government, and the greatest artistic achievements. When a secular movement wants to deconstruct society, it must strike at the root, and that root is Christianity. This is because Christianity affirms categorical morality (the Ten Commandments), self-restraint, particularly on sexuality, and the need for a particular and supernatural redemption not based on ourselves — that is, the Gospel, which is an offense to pride and autonomy.

All of this opposes secularism and the sexual libertinism of the LGBTQ agenda. For these nay-sayers, the good, the true, and the beautiful must all be dragged through the sewer.

Attacks on the Christian worldview and vision come in the form of arguments (think of the “new atheism” of some years ago, now justly in decline) as well as through art. Art, at its zenith, is a revelation of the beautiful, and the truly beautiful is a sign of transcendence, as Roger Scruton noted in his book, Beauty: A Very Short Introduction. He writes,

For beauty makes a claim on us: it is a call to renounce our narcissism and look with reverence on the world.” Reverence is a religious sentiment, of course, and has no place in a secular worldview.

Philosophers speak of the sacred triad of “the good, the true, and the beautiful,” which are all anchored in the transcendent being of God as their paradigm and source. Thus, the betrayal of the Western tradition and the attack on God is often expressed through the desecration of the beautiful. Scruton explains desecration and deserves to be quoted at some length:

To desecrate is to spoil what might otherwise be set apart, in the sphere of consecrated things. We can desecrate a church, a mosque, a graveyard, a tomb; and also a holy image, a holy book or a holy ceremony. We can also desecrate a corpse, a cherished image, even a living human being — in so far as these things contain (as they do) a portent of some original ‘apartness.’ The fear of desecration is a vital element in all religions. Indeed, that is what the word religio originally meant: a cult or ceremony designed to protect some sacred place from sacrilege.

Much of modern art trades on desecration and finds its energy in outright blasphemy. Perhaps the apotheosis of blasphemy was the work “Piss Christ” (1987) by Andres Serano in which a crucifix was submersed in urine. This art is purely negative and parasitic on the good. It is a vampire on culture. The parody and mockery of the Last Supper at the Olympics fits this category of debauchery, obscenity, and depravity. As such, it must be called out for what it is.

But what can be done besides condemnation?

Beauty to the Rescue

First, we can remember and teach the truth of Jesus Christ’s Last Supper, which reveals His redemptive work on our behalf as the “lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world” (John 1:29). Whenever we take communion, we hark back to the Last Supper and engage in a sacred rite of enacted goodness. As such, we stand against the desecration of a world gone made in its rebellion against a holy and loving God.

Second, we should fight the unholy fire of desecration with the holy fire of beauty by supporting Christian art and artists. The answer to bad and blasphemous art is good and God-honoring art. Therefore, we should encourage Christians to flourish in painting, dance, sculpture, poetry, theater, and all the arts. We should also ensure that our places of worship are sanctuaries where the good, the true, and the beautiful combine to bless those who enter and worship. This is our sacred culture.

An old Russian proverb says that “one word of truth outweighs the world.” Perhaps we might add to that by saying, “One instance of true beauty outweighs all the ugliness of desecration,” despite the Olympics efforts to the contrary.

 

Douglas Groothuis will become Distinguished University Research Professor of Apologetics and Christian Worldview at Cornerstone University this fall. He is the author of twenty books, including Christian Apologetics (InterVarsity, 2022), and, most recently Beyond the Wager: The Christian Brilliance of Blaise Pascal (InterVarsity, 2024).