I really don't mean to be flippant or something with the question, but I don't know how else to ask it. Hasn't the worship of pagan Gods been part and parcel of the Olympics since before Christianity was even a religion?
Like... when one thinks of the Olympics, one of the first things to come to mind is that it was a religious festival for pagans. It's literally named after Mount Olympus, home of the Gods, the games themselves were meant as offerings and sacrifices to them, all that stuff.
Like.. I know that's not the draw anymore or whatever, but everybody realizes that that's essential to the heritage of the thing and how it became popular, yeah? If I remember right they were outlawed for quite a bit when Christians came to power because their status as a religious festival was well known.
I haven't seen the ceremony, I haven't watched the Olympics in decades, and the history of the Olympics is something I haven't been taught since middle school (early 90s). But really, what am I missing exactly that makes a callback to it's roots offensive? Or was there something other than pagan imagery that they were touching on that involved ridicule of non-pagan religions?
I mean it as a serious question, because I've got smart Christian friends who seem genuinely offended and idgi. Not trying to call y'all wrong for being offended and I really am just trying to understand the rationale.