Are the organisers of the Paris Olympics, the IOC and the French Government the latest organisations to fall into the trap of discriminating against one group in their zeal to be seen as ‘inclusive’..
'But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the LORD arose against his people, till there was no remedy' That's the old testament, preparing the ground for God's wrathful retribution - a message that remains strong in belief and even practice in the Holy Koran. The New Testament changed this. It presents a message included in the Last Supper of a man of sorrows, mocked, scourged, spat upon, suffering agony yet still loving. Ecce homo. That is still an idea that is demanding beyond the capacity of most humans, me included. Truly unattainable among us mortals. Speaking as a not very good atheist - bought up to regard unbelief as simply normal by parenting, school and culture - the Olympic mocking of the last supper, excused as a delightful Dionysiac orgy - left me unaffected. The new testament God would see it as human folly not to be taken seriously, to be gently ignored, yet it reminded me of one (as did your excellent piece pondering offence and pain taken far more widely among the genuinely persecuted) of one of the few, perhaps only, times Christ expressed passionate anger, as in Matthew's gospel "But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea."
'But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the LORD arose against his people, till there was no remedy' That's the old testament, preparing the ground for God's wrathful retribution - a message that remains strong in belief and even practice in the Holy Koran. The New Testament changed this. It presents a message included in the Last Supper of a man of sorrows, mocked, scourged, spat upon, suffering agony yet still loving. Ecce homo. That is still an idea that is demanding beyond the capacity of most humans, me included. Truly unattainable among us mortals. Speaking as a not very good atheist - bought up to regard unbelief as simply normal by parenting, school and culture - the Olympic mocking of the last supper, excused as a delightful Dionysiac orgy - left me unaffected. The new testament God would see it as human folly not to be taken seriously, to be gently ignored, yet it reminded me of one (as did your excellent piece pondering offence and pain taken far more widely among the genuinely persecuted) of one of the few, perhaps only, times Christ expressed passionate anger, as in Matthew's gospel "But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea."