How to Get Back at Those Who Mocked Christians at the Olympics

There was a massive amount of publicity around the opening ceremony of the recent Paris Olympics. The event that created the biggest stir was a display featuring drag queens parodying Leonardo de Vinci’s iconic painting of “The Last Supper.”

When the blowback started, the organizers first tried to say it was not a parody of The Last Supper at all, but rather a depiction of the Feast of Dionysus. Interestingly, people who don’t like Christianity immediately started spreading this lie all over social media. Some actual media outlets also promoted this prevarication.

But that was obviously not the truth, and finally the creators admitted that, indeed, it was a representation of the Last Supper. Then, they doubled down defending its appropriateness saying that their “art” was only following a long tradition of using that image in satire. Of course, their actual intent was to mock Christians and Christianity, and that is exactly what they did.

Not surprisingly, the reactions from all corners of the Christian community came fast and furious. Some expressed how they were appalled at the “grotesque mockery of Christians. Others expressed outrage or sadness. Still others accused the creators of having a mental illness and vowed to not even watch the Olympics. Then there were those who sarcastically noted how they picked on Christians but not Muslims. And nearly all denounced the Olympic committee for allowing such a thing. 

Personally, when I saw it, I was also rather disgusted. I thought, “Why would someone do something like that as a part of a good will international event that would be viewed all over the world – including by children? What did they expect to get out of intentionally offending the massive population of Christians the world over?”

In spite of the fact that I was disgusted by what I saw, I personally decided to delay my own public comment. I wanted to wait until the emotion died down a little and speak to it based on a rational consideration of what was really at play.

So just what was at play? First, there is no doubt that Christians were intentionally insulted. But there is a reason the people who did this decided to go that route – and I don’t believe even they realized fully what they were doing.

You see, those people are not Christians. Rather, they are adherents of an entirely different religion – one that views Christianity as a vile opponent of their own. These people are atheistic Naturalists. They not only don’t believe in God, but they believe that Christian morality, particularly when it comes to sexual values, is restrictive in a way that they consider perverse. They don’t want to be accountable to God, and they rebel against anything that would place moral restrictions on their lives. While they chose to mock Christian values by depicting The Last Supper theme using homosexual imagery, their vitriol against Christian morality is not limited to that. They also hate God for not allowing fornication, adultery, polyamory, polygamy, or any other sexual deviance they can think of. They hate Him for the fact that He values human life and restricts how they can indulge their sensuality and self-sufficiency. They don’t want to be responsible for babies in the womb or the elderly. They just hate Christian values in general.

But why do they hate them like that? It is because naturalistic Atheism is its own religion, and adherents fight for their faith. Well, that is certainly a natural reaction, but you might wonder why they have to do it in a way that deliberately offends others.

To get at that, you have to realize where their values come from. Since they don’t believe in God, the values revealed in the Bible mean nothing to them. They don’t accept them as valid. Their values come from their own desires. And their response to people they might offend ? ... they have no reason to care. In fact, offending other people may very well even serve to further their own desires.

At this point, you might ask about the responses of some people who self-identify as Christians. After all, it is not that unusual for some Christians to intentionally offend people who don’t share their values. For instance, some of the people who were offended by the vile depiction of The Lord’s Supper, expressed the same kind of vitriol toward the ones who created the exhibit. That’s sadly true.

Why “sadly,” you might ask. It’s sad because while that kind of attitude is consistent with the beliefs of fallen human beings who don’t know God, it’s not consistent with the beliefs of fallen people who have been changed by their relationship with Jesus Christ. Our goal, as Christians, is to be a witness for Christ in order to point people to Him.

I get being offended and disgusted by what was done. It truly was despicable. But I don’t believe I heard anyone respond by giving those people a reason to act differently. The reason people do evil things is because they have a spiritual problem. And the only real fix is a spiritual fix ... they need to have their lives changed by Christ.

It’s important to understand that it’s not wrong to push back against evil in society. The evil actually does do harm to people and we should care about that. At the same time, we must focus on the goal, not on the offense. Nothing will change until we do.

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Freddy Davis is the president of MarketFaith Ministries. He is the author of numerous books entitled The Truth Mirage, Rules for Christians Radicals, Liberalism vs. Conservatism, and his latest book Shattering the Truth Mirage and has a background as an international missionary, pastor, radio host, worldview trainer, and entrepreneur. Freddy is a graduate of Florida State University with a BS in Communication, and holds MDiv and DMin degrees from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is a popular speaker, particularly on the topic of worldview and its practical implications for the Christian life. He lives in Tallahassee, FL, with his wife Deborah.

You may also contact Freddy at Leadership Speakers Bureau to schedule him for speaking or leadership engagements.

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