Photograph by Marek Studzinski via Unsplash

A recent controversy at the Olympic opening ceremony in Paris has some Christians in an uproar over what the French Council of Bishops has called a “mockery and derision of Christianity.” Featuring drag queens and queer icon Barbara Butch, the scene seemingly references both Jesus’ Last Supper and the Leonardo Da Vinci painting of the same name. The real question though is, why is this a problem?

Olympic authorities have been quick to clarify that the scene does not in fact depict the Last Supper, and art historians have identified the inspiration for the artistic presentation as distinctly pagan, pointing to Jan van Bijler’s “Feast of the Gods” as the creative muse for the piece. When asked for the reason the exhibition was featured in the games’ opening ceremonies, the ceremony’s artistic director, Thomas Jolly, said “My wish isn’t to be subversive, nor to mock or to shock. Most of all, I wanted to send a message of love, a message of inclusion and not at all to divide.” For some Christians that message of love and inclusion was too much.

While it turns out that this is all one big misunderstanding, the episode is nevertheless illustrative of some key facts that deserve some introspection from Christians. First and foremost, Christians seem to equate any queer religious interpretation and re-imagining as threatening. That should not be the case. The central fact of Jesus’ life, and this event in particular, is that God meets us exactly where we are – at a dinner table. As such, it is fitting for depictions of the Last Supper to adapt and change, especially for the sake of inclusion. Moreover, it is a beautiful thing when our religious imagination can be made more capacious, and such artistic performances help us to do precisely that.

This is not the first time that Christians have become enraged at the blending of art and religious symbol. When Andres Serrano’s Immersion (Piss Christ) first debuted it was met with strong religious objection, eventually leading to the United States Congress passing a law that the National Endowment for the Arts had to consider  “general standards of decency” in determining future awards. Another important instance of critique comes from Amen or The Pederasty by Abel Azcona, who gathered communion wafers from Eucharists in 242 different parishes, arranging them to spell the word “pederastia” in protest of the number of cases of sexual abuse  in Northern Spain over the span of a decade. That work was met with protests, demonstrations, and court cases.

If the controversy has pointed out anything, it is the fact that Christians still have plenty of work to do to create spaces and theologies of inclusion for queer people. That should not be surprising, as the most well-known Christian leader of our day, Pope Francis, was recently embroiled in a scandal for using an anti-gay slur. It is hard for me to believe that the controversy would have been so intense had the art exhibition not centered the visible queerness of its participants. Many Christians seem to have a problem with queer people existing in public spaces, and that means that they have a problem with God, whose love and inclusion does not permit discrimination and hate.

Christians, we need to calm down. No one is trying to disrespect Jesus, God, or us. Or, if they are, it’s probably to critique Christians and the church for their failings. Outrage is just wasted energy and misplaced emotion. Instead of getting riled up, let’s get down to the serious work of the Gospel – love and inclusion.