Meanwhile, in France

[ken_sylvania]

Who is surprised the Olympics are pagan.

For a period of time paganism was disfavored in Europe and the Americas with "respectable" people at least paying lip service to Christianity or humanism. This Olympic display is a jarring reminder that the arc of history is once again bending toward an embrace of hedonism, paganism, and the rejection of all that is Godly.

It is actually the exact opposite of that. The actual Olympics (the competitions) are among the most ascetic pursuits in the modern world. Most Olympic sports are not big money and athletes have to train for years in complete dedication to their sport for any hope of success and perhaps a small moment of fame every 4 years. My daughter goes to school with some of the Olympic rowers. They basically have no life outside of rowing and school.

It is just the opening ceremonies that are a spectacle and that is really more about the host city than the Olympics themselves. Every host city does its own opening ceremonies. The Olympics doesn't really have any say or control. Paris did their thing to apparently mixed reviews. I only watched a small part of it and it was kind of hard to follow. I didn't see the part that generated the controversy. All I saw was the guy running over rooftops with the torch and the boats bringing in the athletes.

How is that "the exact opposite" of what I said?

[Szdfan]

Who is surprised the Olympics are pagan.

For a period of time paganism was disfavored in Europe and the Americas with "respectable" people at least paying lip service to Christianity or humanism. This Olympic display is a jarring reminder that the arc of history is once again bending toward an embrace of hedonism, paganism, and the rejection of all that is Godly.

I think it's more complicated than that. The Renaissance was prompted by the rediscovery of Greek and Roman texts in the 13th Century that led to a reawakening of classical Roman culture. Greek and Roman mythology were frequent topics in Renaissance painting along with Christian themes. The columns and arches of neo-classical architecture in Washington, DC paid tribute to democratic ideals originating in pagan Greece. 19th Century literature and art is chock full of pagan references, like in the poetry of Keats, Byron and Shelley.

Greco-Roman paganism is one of the foundations of Western Culture -- it's just that the "respectable" people ignored Dionysus (Bacchus) and the less savory aspects of Greek mythology. People want to believe a sanitized "Disneyfied" version of the past that never really existed.

[Ken]

For a period of time paganism was disfavored in Europe and the Americas with "respectable" people at least paying lip service to Christianity or humanism. This Olympic display is a jarring reminder that the arc of history is once again bending toward an embrace of hedonism, paganism, and the rejection of all that is Godly.

It is actually the exact opposite of that. The actual Olympics (the competitions) are among the most ascetic pursuits in the modern world. Most Olympic sports are not big money and athletes have to train for years in complete dedication to their sport for any hope of success and perhaps a small moment of fame every 4 years. My daughter goes to school with some of the Olympic rowers. They basically have no life outside of rowing and school.

It is just the opening ceremonies that are a spectacle and that is really more about the host city than the Olympics themselves. Every host city does its own opening ceremonies. The Olympics doesn't really have any say or control. Paris did their thing to apparently mixed reviews. I only watched a small part of it and it was kind of hard to follow. I didn't see the part that generated the controversy. All I saw was the guy running over rooftops with the torch and the boats bringing in the athletes.

How is that "the exact opposite" of what I said?

Training for the Olympics is the opposite of self-indulgent hedonism and bacchanalia. It is all about ascetic self-sacrifice.

[ken_sylvania]

It is actually the exact opposite of that. The actual Olympics (the competitions) are among the most ascetic pursuits in the modern world. Most Olympic sports are not big money and athletes have to train for years in complete dedication to their sport for any hope of success and perhaps a small moment of fame every 4 years. My daughter goes to school with some of the Olympic rowers. They basically have no life outside of rowing and school.

It is just the opening ceremonies that are a spectacle and that is really more about the host city than the Olympics themselves. Every host city does its own opening ceremonies. The Olympics doesn't really have any say or control. Paris did their thing to apparently mixed reviews. I only watched a small part of it and it was kind of hard to follow. I didn't see the part that generated the controversy. All I saw was the guy running over rooftops with the torch and the boats bringing in the athletes.

How is that "the exact opposite" of what I said?

Training for the Olympics is the opposite of self-indulgent hedonism and bacchanalia. It is all about ascetic self-sacrifice.

You might notice that I said nothing at all about the Olympic athletes, etc. I referred only to "this Olympic display" which in context is obviously the "Festivity" tableau.

[Josh]

We have an excellent display here from the liberal-progressive left of:

#1, this "slippery slope" you describe would never actually happen. You're just paranoid.

#2, this isn't happening, and you're a conspiracy theorist for even thinking it could be happening.

#3, this is happening, it is a wonderful thing and you're an evil bigot for being opposed to it.

I note that the liberal-progressive left, including liberal "Christians", never seem to support or want to see anything in society move in the direction of holiness, righteousness, or obedience to biblical principles. But they do seem to be very ardent defenders that it's just fine when things move towards debauchery, sinfulness, and away from the simple teachings of the Bible. The most galling thing is that they then claim the Bible supports what they are doing, as if the Bible somehow teaches that sin is a good thing and there should be more of it.

[Ken]

We have an excellent display here from the liberal-progressive left of:

#1, this "slippery slope" you describe would never actually happen. You're just paranoid.

#2, this isn't happening, and you're a conspiracy theorist for even thinking it could be happening.

#3, this is happening, it is a wonderful thing and you're an evil bigot for being opposed to it.

I note that the liberal-progressive left, including liberal "Christians", never seem to support or want to see anything in society move in the direction of holiness, righteousness, or obedience to biblical principles. But they do seem to be very ardent defenders that it's just fine when things move towards debauchery, sinfulness, and away from the simple teachings of the Bible. The most galling thing is that they then claim the Bible supports what they are doing, as if the Bible somehow teaches that sin is a good thing and there should be more of it.

What we actually have here is a narrow group of conservative Christians pretending to be offended by something most of them probably didn't even watch in the first place and who only got riled up when social media told them they should. Last spring it was something to do with Easter and before that Bud Light. I'm sure in a few months they will roll out the tired old "war on Christmas" and we will get to hear yet again how the White House "Happy Holidays" greeting is erasing Christmas or some such. And then its on to the Superbowl Halftime Show and the cycle repeats.

Fake outrage drives viewership and page views I guess.

[Josh]

We have an excellent display here from the liberal-progressive left of:

#1, this "slippery slope" you describe would never actually happen. You're just paranoid.

#2, this isn't happening, and you're a conspiracy theorist for even thinking it could be happening.

#3, this is happening, it is a wonderful thing and you're an evil bigot for being opposed to it.

I note that the liberal-progressive left, including liberal "Christians", never seem to support or want to see anything in society move in the direction of holiness, righteousness, or obedience to biblical principles. But they do seem to be very ardent defenders that it's just fine when things move towards debauchery, sinfulness, and away from the simple teachings of the Bible. The most galling thing is that they then claim the Bible supports what they are doing, as if the Bible somehow teaches that sin is a good thing and there should be more of it.

What we actually have here is a narrow group of conservative Christians pretending to be offended by something most of them probably didn't even watch in the first place and who only got riled up when social media told them they should. Last spring it was something to do with Easter and before that Bud Light. I'm sure in a few months they will roll out the tired old "war on Christmas" and we will get to hear yet again how the White House "Happy Holidays" greeting is erasing Christmas or some such. And then its on to the Superbowl Halftime Show and the cycle repeats.

Fake outrage drives viewership and page views I guess.

Thanks for your demonstration of #3.

[RZehr]

We have an excellent display here from the liberal-progressive left of:

#1, this "slippery slope" you describe would never actually happen. You're just paranoid.

#2, this isn't happening, and you're a conspiracy theorist for even thinking it could be happening.

#3, this is happening, it is a wonderful thing and you're an evil bigot for being opposed to it.

I note that the liberal-progressive left, including liberal "Christians", never seem to support or want to see anything in society move in the direction of holiness, righteousness, or obedience to biblical principles. But they do seem to be very ardent defenders that it's just fine when things move towards debauchery, sinfulness, and away from the simple teachings of the Bible. The most galling thing is that they then claim the Bible supports what they are doing, as if the Bible somehow teaches that sin is a good thing and there should be more of it.

What we actually have here is a narrow group of conservative Christians pretending to be offended by something most of them probably didn't even watch in the first place and who only got riled up when social media told them they should. Last spring it was something to do with Easter and before that Bud Light. I'm sure in a few months they will roll out the tired old "war on Christmas" and we will get to hear yet again how the White House "Happy Holidays" greeting is erasing Christmas or some such. And then its on to the Superbowl Halftime Show and the cycle repeats.

Fake outrage drives viewership and page views I guess.

Thanks for your demonstration of #3.

3? I was sort of thinking 1 or 2.

[Ken]

We have an excellent display here from the liberal-progressive left of:

#1, this "slippery slope" you describe would never actually happen. You're just paranoid.

#2, this isn't happening, and you're a conspiracy theorist for even thinking it could be happening.

#3, this is happening, it is a wonderful thing and you're an evil bigot for being opposed to it.

I note that the liberal-progressive left, including liberal "Christians", never seem to support or want to see anything in society move in the direction of holiness, righteousness, or obedience to biblical principles. But they do seem to be very ardent defenders that it's just fine when things move towards debauchery, sinfulness, and away from the simple teachings of the Bible. The most galling thing is that they then claim the Bible supports what they are doing, as if the Bible somehow teaches that sin is a good thing and there should be more of it.

What we actually have here is a narrow group of conservative Christians pretending to be offended by something most of them probably didn't even watch in the first place and who only got riled up when social media told them they should. Last spring it was something to do with Easter and before that Bud Light. I'm sure in a few months they will roll out the tired old "war on Christmas" and we will get to hear yet again how the White House "Happy Holidays" greeting is erasing Christmas or some such. And then its on to the Superbowl Halftime Show and the cycle repeats.

Fake outrage drives viewership and page views I guess.

Thanks for your demonstration of #3.

I'm not calling your an evil bigot or saying anything is wonderful. I'm saying this is yet another example of manufactured outrage on social media. Like so many other examples. Outrage sells and generates clicks. And no doubt there are right wing "influencers" cashing in on this and milking it for all its worth. Liberals do the same exact thing, just with different issues.

It's Paris, shrug. Paris always does this sort of thing going back well, centuries. Paris cabarets have been doing transgressive strip shows and drag shows for over 150 years. The city is famous for it. I would suggest that if your faith is in any way threatened by a couple of Parisian drag queens then it is pretty weak faith indeed.

[RZehr]

I would suggest that if your faith is in any way threatened by a couple of Parisian drag queens then it is pretty weak faith indeed.

I agree. And I would add that if you see nothing grossly and recognizably sinful about Paris putting on a drag show for the whole world, your faith is weak indeed too.