The French opening ceremony of the XXXIII Olympics in Paris managed to undermine both of these goals as drag queens parodied the Lord's Supper, as depicted in Leonardo da Vinci's famous mural. Instead of nature, they celebrated anti-nature. Instead of good will, they mocked. In the name of some distorted notion of freedom, they hailed the freedom to abuse their guests. In the name of inclusion, they excluded. Contrasting the natural pairing of males and females in the animal kingdom to human homosexuality, the Stoic speaker defending nature in Pseudo-Lucian says,

But you who are wrongly praised for wisdom, you beasts truly contemptible, you humans, by what strange infection have you been brought to lawlessness and incited to outrage each other? With what blind insensibility have you engulfed your souls that you have missed the mark in both directions, avoiding what you ought to pursue, and pursuing what you ought to avoid? If each and every man should choose to emulate such conduct, the human race will come to a complete end.[1]

This work was written sometime in the 2nd to the 4th c. AD and represents a Graeco-Roman (not Judeo-Christian) debate about whether the love of women or of boys (pederasty) was preferable. The speaker who wins the debate in this work is the one championing pederasty, not the natural love of men and women. The Christian era in Europe that began to take hold of the culture in the 4th century rejected this, but it is now over. The drag queens of Europe have the stage--at least until the Muslims take it. Instead of mocking women, they will subjugate them. Instead of drag, the veil. Instead of freedom, submission. Yet we will need to wait a few decades for that development.

Who better than drag queens to represent the distortions of Western culture in its present, post-Christian age? They are the epitome of the unnatural, even the anti-natural, and they are defined not in themselves but by what they mock, the woman and Christian faith. Though dressed as women, they cannot bear children. Yet they seek out children before whom to parade their sexual perversions. They are the grand deconstructors of European cultures built on centuries of Christian teaching. Knowing their enemy, they look for ways to mock Christians' most holy institution, the Eucharist, while their allies burn a place of Christian worship in France every other week. They celebrate their sin with a parody of our Lord's commemorative meal of His death for the forgiveness of sins. Not only so, but bishops of once Christian Churches in Europe and America, now priests of post-Christian culture, offer blessings and even church weddings to homosexuals.

And what better country in Europe to host this monstrous celebration? France has been dismantling Christian faith since the days of its Revolution. It is the secular state par excellence. It has now enshrined in its Constitution the right to kill the unborn in the womb--another of the most anti-natural practices of a post-Christian people. Having cleansed itself from Christian faith in the name of freedom and inclusion, it is now host to another parody of the Christian religion, Islam. Yet, as the ten percent of the population that is Muslim grows, France will discover (why is this so hard to see now?) that its distorted versions of freedom and inclusivity, not just its Christian past, are about to disappear. For now, the Olympic drag show announces to the world that the West's inhospitable inclusivity, its anti-natural freedom, and its mockery of Christianity are in control. And how better to announce this than by mocking the Olympics, where natural capacities, the differences between men and women, and the awarding of merit are on display in every competition?

[1] Pseudo-Lucian, Affairs of the Heart, trans. A. M. Harmon (Loeb Classical Library; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1925).

Dr. Grams is a professor of Biblical theology and ethics. He has served at Gordon-Conwell's Charlotte campus from 1992-1997 and again since 2006. Dr. Grams' scholarly interests include the integration of New Testament studies with missions, ethics, and theological interpretation. Dr. Grams presently works with doctoral students through the Oxford Centre for Religion and Public Life. He also has written books and articles on the Bible, missions, and ethics. He is currently writing a book on slavery.