How NOT to respond to the blasphemy in Paris

By Phil Lawler ( bio - articles - email ) | Jul 30, 2024

Yesterday Thomas Mirus offered some good thoughts on how Catholics should respond to blasphemous public acts, such as those in the Olympic opening ceremonies. I would also recommend the simple and straightforward advice from Archbishop Anthony Fisher. For a bit more detail see the reflection by Father Thomas Weinandy, who makes an important point:

Amidst all the condemnations and claims of the display’s offensiveness, what has not been stated, even by Christians, is that those who planned, orchestrated, and perpetrated such a blasphemous portrayal, unless they repent, will not die a happy death.

Having pointed out those excellent thoughts on how Catholics should respond, I shall not add to them. Instead I will focus on how we should not respond:

1. Don’t whine. It’s not you that the program offended; it was blasphemy: an offense against God. If you say, in effect, “I feel insulted!” you give the Paris organizers the opportunity to reply: “Oh, you poor dear; we’re so sorry if you took offense.” Which is indeed what they’ve said.
2. Don’t emphasize that 2 billion people have been offended. That may be true—and I admit it’s something you might bring up if you’re talking to advertising sponsors of the Olympics (see below). But again it’s not the point.
3. Don’t complain that they wouldn’t dare stage such mockery of Islam. That’s true, too, and we all know it. But we also know why. Unless Christians cease to behave as Christians, the foes of the faith know that we do not pose a threat of murderous violence. So what’s the point of the comparison?
4. Don’t make empty threats of retaliation. You might resolve not to watch the Olympics, but unless/until you are confident that hundreds of thousands of people will join you, don’t announce a boycott. If advertisers notice a substantial dip in the audience, they’ll get the message. If there isn’t a substantial drop, after loose talk of a boycott, they might conclude that Christians aren’t really that concerned.
5. Don’t blame the athletes. Thousands of young people came to Paris to compete; they had nothing to do with the blasphemous show. You might regret the professionalization and commercialization of the Olympics; so do I. But that’s a different issue. For that matter, don’t blame the people of France. Blame the organizers, and the politicians who chose and supported them.
6. Don’t take the organizers’ “apology” as a victory. Their statement was thoroughly disingenuous, with its preposterous claim that they didn’t anticipate a negative reaction. They knew what they were doing: staging a pagan ceremony. The notion that it was a parody is misleading. It was a parody of a Christian ritual; it was a real pagan ritual. Was it ugly and absurd? Pagan rituals usually are.
7. Don’t forget. Several popular commentators have observed that the pagans showed us that they recognize the Catholic Church as their most important enemy. Yes, and they also reminded us who our enemies are. We are caught up in a serious battle. If you encounter Christians who don’t understand why this is such a big deal, you have fair warning that they are (at best) unreliable allies.
8. Don’t fight this battle on the enemy’s terms. Pagans use mockery, ugliness, and hatred because they are incapable of building a community based on the true and the beautiful. We will defeat them not by descending to their level but by showing them, and all the world, something better.
9. Don’t go into the battle unarmed. “For we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rules of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” (Eph. 6:12)
10. Don’t think that you have never offended God. Pray not just for the conversion of blasphemers, but for the conversion of poor sinners like ourselves, for a revival of reverence for the Eucharist, for a livelier sense of God’s glory, for a new outpouring of his mercy on a people desperately in need.