Statement issued by the Middle East Council of Churches

About what happened at the opening of the Olympic Games in France

Beirut 27.07.2024

With a lot of love mixed with astonishment and disapproval, we saw what happened during the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in France, the mockery of the mystery of the mysteries in Christianity, and what is sacred to billions of people around the world.

Freedom, diversity, and creativity are not compatible with insulting the beliefs of others, nor with mocking them, in ways that have nothing to do with human quality.

Christianity was the first to preserve freedoms, protect diversity, and preserve human dignity and rights. Therefore, we do not accept subjecting it to insult from some groups, knowing that every human being is in the image and likeness of God and is called to salvation.

If respect and friendship are fundamental values ​​in the culture of the Olympic Games, how can the Olympic Committee accept its values ​​being violated?

Freedom is a major responsibility in the history of humanity, and whoever exercises it must feel the responsibility of respecting others and their beliefs and entering into dialogue with them. Mocking the beliefs of others reveals a hidden tendency toward suppressing them, which may lead whoever commits it to practices that are not acceptable to the values ​​of democracy.

What happened indicates complete ignorance of the concepts of freedom and human dignity, and this is a very worrying matter for the future of humanity, because exploiting a global platform in this way means a decline in the global human-civilizational convergence to the lowest level in human relations, and consequently the absence of acceptance of diversity in life. Hence it implies social behavior which leads to the emergence of the abolitionist and exclusionary tendency toward the other.

Throughout its history, Christianity has inspired human development in the fields of science, culture, and arts, and it will continue this message until the end of time, and “the gates of hell will not prevail against it.” (Matthew 16:18)

We pray that the Almighty God will inspire a straight path for all human beings, and will prevent societies from returning, in the name of freedom, to an age of darkness, decadence, and primitivism. The spread of Christianity, which is based primarily on love, has formed the cornerstone of everything that is refined and noble in the world.

In conclusion, we say to those who did this work that the Lord Jesus says to them, as He said to those who crucified Him, “Forgive them, Father, for they do not know what they do” (Luke 23:34), and that respecting the freedoms of others, preserving their human dignity, and building sound relationships between humans require to rectify the mistake and offer a public and frank apology to all those whose feelings were hurt and whose sanctities were mocked around the world.