Excerpted from: https://www.dailysignal.com/2024/07/30/you-dont-have-to-be-christian-to-loathe-the-opening-of-the-paris-olympics/
Dennis Prager: he’s absurd. He’s hysterical. He assumes that the mere existence of a minority he doesn’t understand is inherently evil and an existential threat to his entire civilization.
I’ve never understood how anyone takes that level of delirium seriously. To be critical of an institution—especially institutions with pasts as checkered as the Catholic Church and United States government—does not equate to wishing for the downfall of a civilization. We absolutely should be critical. Even setting aside centuries of history, in the last fifty years alone, how many sex abuse scandals has the Church ignored—or outright covered up? And they have the gall to call anyone else a groomer?
But if you criticize the Church, you must hate Christianity. If you criticize the American government, you must hate Americans. It’s the most inane, academically lazy “argument” in the right’s repertoire (and I’m using the term “argument” generously). I don’t hate America. In fact, I love what America is supposed to represent. But when you truly love a person, you don’t ignore their flaws; that’s toxic to both parties. You love them despite their flaws, and you do your best to help them overcome each one, even though you know you’ll never be completely successful.
The same holds true for a country. The left isn’t at “war” with civilization or with Christianity. In fact, by almost every metric, the left behaves more like Christians than the right ever has. Yes, the left is pro-choice, but the right isn’t pro-life. They’re just anti-abortion, and those are two different things. According to the Catechism, “pro-life” means that life must be protected at every level and with every measure at your disposal. That includes opposing the death penalty, and that includes putting a piece of cloth over your face to help keep your fellow human beings safe during a global pandemic, even if it’s a wittle stuffy.
What Christ never said is that being poor is a moral failing—He said to give your neighbor the clothes off your back and the food off your table. He never said to close your doors to refugees—He said to welcome them into your home and wash their feet with your own hands. He certainly never said that it’s our job to denigrate and demonize an entire group of people based on ideological hysteria, but the right has decided that’s what Christ stands for. Then, they’re surprised when that stigmatized group finally bites back. Of course the opening ceremony was a satire of the Last Supper; the designer even said as much. (It was also a depiction of a Bacchanalia and a celebration of France; two things can be true at once.) But are you really going to sit here and be shocked, Mr. Prager? I am a Christian, but I’m not a perfect one, so if God decides I need some time in Purgatory to repent for this, then so be it: you damn well had it coming.
For an outlet published by The Heritage Foundation to accuse anyone of trying to tear down civilization is hypocrisy as high as Mt. Olympus. You know what is a danger to civilization? Giving the President unquestionable, unilateral authority to behave anyway he sees fit in office; gutting the entire DOE because you’re upset that trans people exist and because you want the world to forget America ever did anything bad; slashing the EPA because you’re somehow still living in willful denial of the only actual existential threat to civilization.
The blue dude on your television isn’t going to destroy the Western world, but you might.