Dear Christians,
I hate to be the one to break it to you, but you are not always the main character.
Photo of the Paris, opening Olympics ceremony, and The Feast of the Gods, painted by the artist Jan van Bijlert between 1635 and 1640
By now you may have heard about the recent upset manufactured by mostly white Christians, especially in the United States.
It seems they’ve gotten their panties in a bunch over a scene in the opening ceremonies, depicting diversity, and a bunch of wild and partying Greek Gods, which, if you’ve ever spent anytime studying Greek Gods then you would know that a lot of them like their wine, they were also pretty brutal and horny, I might add. However, when you’re an evangelical or fundamentalist Christian. ( and I dare say a zealot of any religion or ideology) one tends to try to make everything about them. (this is also a really good argument for maybe expanding the Christian educational curriculum to better understand other cultures, mythologies, and religious icons… Oops, that would be diversity and inclusion and evangelical and fundamental and Christians definitely don’t want that)
The utter dismay began during the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics when they depicted a table of the Greek Gods, Dionysus, Greek god of wine-making, fruitfulness and ecstasy, as well as other Greek Gods which, I suppose if you look hard enough could resemble “The Last Supper” the famous Leonardo da Vinci painting of Jesus and his apostles. I mean, if one wants to see something, they will.
It’s weird that they were not upset when this particular painting was reimagined with dogs, cats, The Simpsons and I’m sure in many other fun ways.
Clearly, a lot of Christians don’t necessarily understand the French, I barely do, nor do they seem to appreciate art and or the exploration of diversity and culture in a different country. And it seems whenever they can try to find something to be horrified by or even victimized by they will. For a religion that is pretty much dominated the planet for centuries, oppressing, slaughtering and squashing anyone who didn’t kneel, they seem to love to cry persecution.
It isn’t just this constant need to feign victimization and feeling mocked, White, mostly Christians love to lay claim to victories and significant finds that have nothing to do with them.
I was driving through Arizona recently, and I kept noticing a sign that said the Centennial celebration of the Grand Canyon. I was a little perplexed by this considering that I’m pretty sure the Grand Canyon has been there for more than 100 years and I’m also pretty sure there was a lot of native peoples who knew about its existence before a bunch of white people came along, named it, claimed it, and then decided that they should be able to celebrate its existence because they found it.
I mean, this could be said for the whole of the Americas if really we’re being honest.
It feels as though to be religious one should be allowed to exhibit a certain amount of narcissism because of their piousness.
Humans seems also have a desperate need to celebrate our accomplishments, especially if they aren’t ours. It seems the more we stand up and shout how awesome we are, “look at what I did!”, the more we hope the people that truly understand the history of this planet will forget that it likely had nothing to do with us.
Perhaps it’s our constant need for approval from a God who seems not to like us very much, a God who is much like an absent or neglectful parent and we are the children constantly running up, showing our crayon scribbles, which we perceive to be the Mona Lisa, and pray that this will finally be the one that generates that experience of unconditional love we’ve desperately been seeking.
I suppose if your entire religion is based on the idea that you were born a sinner and you’re every action in your life must be to prove yourself to God so that you don’t end up burning in hell, then every act must be in submission, a defense against this God, that for whatever reason can simply banish you to an eternal life of damnation.
I wonder if the Pearl clutching is really about reverence or out of fear.
Christianity isn’t the only religion to cry out in rage when their God or prophet isn’t held to their same high esteem.
Normally, I wouldn’t take issue with a religious group finding upset if they were truly being mocked or their deities maligned. I think it’s fair to at least hope for respect of our different religions.
It just feels like lately we can’t even have a little fun with the Greek gods without pissing people off.
Selling persecution is big business right now. Sowing division and fear is profitable and it’s sad to see so many people rushing to the center of town, rocks in hand, ready to throw them at whoever They” decide that week deserves a stoning.
One thing I know for sure is that in this cycle, One day it’s you throwing the stone and the next day you’re hit in the head with it.
I guess if people really did truly understand history, they would know that.
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