Was the Olympic Opening Ceremony Sacrilegious?

The answer surprised me

Leonardo da Vinci, The Last Supper, ca. 1494–1498. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

I’m going to say something you probably haven’t heard in the last few days. I loved the opening ceremony to the Olympics. That is, I loved what I saw of it. I came in late, so I did not see the beginning.

By now, you’ve probably heard about the controversy surrounding the opening ceremony of this year’s Olympic Games in Paris. It started with what looked like a parody of Da Vinci’s famous painting, The Last Supper. A group of what looked like cross-dressers appeared at a table, with a halo on the central figure, appearing to mimic Christ and the Disciples. A great big silver cover, like a fancy restaurant might use, is lifted to reveal a blue man with red hair and nearly nude except for a few strategically placed clusters of grapes. And then they marched like models on a runway. After all, it is Paris, one of the fashion capitals of the world.

X.com, The Olympic Games @Olympics

Let me go on record as saying I did not like that part. Apart from that, to me, it was the greatest spectacle I have ever seen in an Olympics opening ceremony. But for that scene, I could only think, “Why?” Why, on a world stage, with 3000 athletes from 215 countries…