The Intolerance of Tolerance

by Fr. John Parks  |  08/04/2024  |  Weekly Reflection

I love the Olympics. So, I tuned into the Opening ceremony of the Olympics to watch athletes around the world represent their respective cultures. It is also a time for the host country to present itself to the world, for France to put its best foot forward showcasing its culture and people. In the midst of these festivities, those in charge of the event thought it would be appropriate to have Da Vinci’s portrayal of Jesus’ Last Supper be reenacted by a group of drag queens in a sexually charged performance. It was awful, and weird, that someone thought this would be a good thing to include.

There have been a number of voices expressing outrage by the performance. Subsequently, the Paris Olympic Committee said it was not meant to mock the Last Supper but was about a feast meant to celebrate the Greek god Dionysius… well, color me skeptical. With that claim, they issued an apology which in part said, “Clearly there was never any intention to show disrespect to any religious group. On the contrary… we really did try to celebrate community tolerance... if people have taken any offense, we are, of course, really, really sorry.” I want to take notice of two things, first, this is not an apology. It is what so many modern people do, there is no real admission of any wrongdoing, (e.g. “That was wrong, should not have been done, and we apologize for it.”) But rather, if you “took offense” then we are sorry about that. Well, the reason why people can take offense at things, is because they experienced something offensive. Thus, their response is perfectly justified considering the situation. I would rank this event with that sentiment.

Secondly, they clearly say this was meant to be a celebration of “community tolerance”. What is interesting, is that everyone appears to be tolerated except for the 2.6 billion Christians in the world whose faith was mocked. Apparently, tolerance does not include them (or should I say “us”) as a category. This so often happens in modern times, where the last acceptable prejudice appears to be anti-Catholics specifically, and anti-Christian generally. This is the intolerance of tolerance. So often when tolerance is being evoked, it can be an implicit or outright attack on the Christian faith. We should stick up for ourselves when this happens, and claim our own right to be tolerated. Be on the lookout for this canard in modern times, when “tolerance” is being evoked, is it really tolerance—or just a front for an anti-Christian attack?