OPINION:
On Jan. 7, 2015, two French Algerian brothers entered the Paris office of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. Their rifles already leveled, the duo executed 12 employees and critically injured 11.
The Kouachi brothers exacted revenge for a published cartoon of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad. Although not forbidden by the Quran, disparaging images of the prophet are considered profane and can elicit a violent response.
On July 26, at the Olympic opening ceremony in Paris, Jesus was mocked in a drag-queen tableau of the Last Supper. The role of Jesus, with a high, sparkly crown and immodest decollete, was played by a presumed beauty pageant winner, patently guilty of at least two deadly sins.
Rep. Lauren Boebert, Colorado Republican, wrote on X: “Mocking God at the Olympics is just disgusting. Christians are constantly subject to this abuse. It’s a complete disgrace to see on such a huge stage.”
As the camera panned the long table of “voguing” luridly eye-shadowed disciples, particularly disturbing was not the bearded humanoid in a midnight blue bustier; it was the little brown-haired girl in dandelion yellow, sandwiched near the middle.
The Last Supper of Jesus took place approximately 1,465 years before Leonardo da Vinci painted his masterpiece. It took place during the Jewish celebration of Passover. On the eve of Jesus’ crucifixion, Jesus broke a loaf of bread and said to his disciples, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.” He poured a cup of wine and said, “This is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.”
These acts have been ritualized in the Catholic ceremony of the Eucharist, when congregants consume the symbolic body and blood of Christ and solemnly recall his excruciating torture and death — the merciless scourging, crown of thorns, spikes driven through his hands and feet, and Longinus’ spear drawing blood and water from his side. Through this unimaginable suffering, Jesus took upon himself the sins of humanity so that each might have salvation and eternal life with God.
At this year’s Olympic opening ceremony, the venerated Christian image of the Last Supper was hijacked for a cult movement’s deviant political purposes. With a little girl in its clutches, the cult gloatingly declared, “We have your children.”
Indeed, gender-bending indoctrination is embedded in public school curriculums across the United States, beginning in kindergarten. But what is billed as benign gender affirmation is condemned as “irreversibly harmful” by the American College of Pediatricians.
The tasteless Olympic exhibition was not only an affront to 2.4 billion Christians but also was a transgression against moral decency.
As evidenced in gay pride parades in cities such as San Francisco and Seattle, the LGBTQ movement has turned increasingly lewd. Public nudity and pornographic acts have become common, and moral objections are swiftly stifled by “woke” countercharges of some cancel-worthy iteration of “phobic.”
It is curious that Christianity, a religion of peace, charity and forgiveness, was singled out for this burlesque and not, say, Islam.
France is home to approximately 6 million Muslims, make up more than one-third of Europe’s entire Muslim population. Many of them live in unassimilated enclaves that prioritize their religious doctrines and Shariah (Islamic law) over the statutes of polite French society.
The history of Islamic extremism is still a poignant memory. It does not take much imagination to visualize the Shariah-inspired response — in a country brimming with Kouachi-aged men — to an act blasphemous to Islam performed in front of the world.
2024’s Olympic opening ceremony was exploitative and disrespectful, but in keeping with Christian grace, it will be forgiven. According to Romans 12:18-19: “Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone. Dear friends, never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God.”
• Scott R. Hammond is a Boston resident.
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