As an avid sports fan, I am very excited to see this year’s lineup for the 2024 Summer Olympics, which begins in Paris on Friday, July 26th.
The U.S. women’s basketball team is fighting for eighth place.Number Back-to-back gold medals, Simone Biles might win again. I know nothing about fencing, but it’s always a pleasure to watch the games. But as a Christian, I’ve also been paying close attention to how religion is being used (for better or worse) in this year’s Olympics.
While athletes train tirelessly to compete in the world’s premier sporting event, so too does another group of people prepare to travel to France. This year, a host of official Olympic chaplains across Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Muslim and Buddhist faith traditions are working together to establish chaplaincy centers in the Olympic and Paralympic Villages where the athletes will be staying. Spiritual care is on the way.
In contrast, some Christian religious groups unrelated to the Olympic official pastors, such as the Southern Baptist International Mission Board and Youth With a Mission, have turned the international sporting event into a missions trip. On its website, YWAM states its desire to “impact the nations,” echoing the Great Commission.
They are well organized, and some IMB members have already signed up as official Olympic volunteers. This is an attempt to evangelize on the front lines. YWAM will be hosting “afternoon evangelism” in Paris, which will include live concerts and street evangelism.
Attempts to spread the gospel on the Olympic stage are misguided and inappropriate. An international sporting event that brings together athletes from many different countries and religious traditions is not a forum for spreading the gospel. Athletes and fans are there simply to take part and enjoy the event. The religious pleas of evangelists are merely a distraction.
Fortunately, Olympic sports chaplains fill in the gaps that Christian missionaries lack. Whereas missionaries use seduction, Olympic pins, and false pretenses to build relationships with other athletes, sports chaplains emphasize friendliness, connection, and overall spiritual care. Christian missionaries could learn something from Olympic chaplains.
The first time the Olympics employed official chaplains was in 1988 at the Seoul, South Korea Olympics. After the terrorist attacks on the Israeli Olympic team at the 1972 Olympics, the International Olympic Committee recognized the need for care beyond the physical and began forming an official chaplaincy team to provide spiritual care to athletes.
Olympic chaplaincy takes many forms: through prayer, comforting athletes after losses, offering a listening ear, and sometimes, as 2012 chaplain Frankie Mulgrew put it, “hanging out.”
Stuart Weir, executive director of the Major Sporting Events Chaplaincy Committee, told Religion News Service that the chaplaincy role is vital care for Olympic athletes.
“When athletes understand that they matter because God created them and loves them, they are free to compete and use the talents they’ve been given,” Weir said. “They don’t need to be successful to prove they’re worthy of God’s love.”
Who better to provide spiritual care for athletes than former athletes? One of the most remarkable things about Olympic sports chaplains is that some of them were once athletes, even Olympians. Madeline Manning Mims won the 800m in 1968. She was one of the first official chaplains invited to the Olympics in 1988. But her chaplaincy work began long before that official invitation. In an interview with CNN, Mims spoke from her own experience about the natural suffering of being an athlete and how spirituality can help.
“[I]”Competition comes with a lot of fear and pain. It’s part of being an athlete. A lot of athletes pray for God’s help to overcome it, to break through it and perform at the highest level,” she said.
American high jumper Jesse Williams cites chapels held by his pastors as a driving force that calms him before competitions. “It’s easy in the world we live in to put things like sports above God,” he told Charisma News. “Going to chapel humbles me and I understand that God comes first in everything I do.”
Other athletes may ask for prayer before competing, attend a chapel service the night before, or simply sit quietly by themselves.
This year’s Olympics will be held in France, a country already controversial regarding religious expression. French law, or laïcité, loosely translated as secularism, prohibits the flaunting of faith or religious culture in the public sector, such as schools and government offices. Established to separate the Catholic Church from French politics, laïcité encourages citizens not to distinguish themselves by their faith traditions. The rules primarily isolate people whose faith traditions require a certain way of dress, such as some sects of Islam. While not illegal on its face, religious evangelism is already culturally frowned upon in the public sector. Religious missionaries disembarking in France may face backlash from the French public.
While Christian missionaries plan to distribute pamphlets to unsuspecting pedestrians, sports chaplains from all faith traditions are working together to create a positive and respectful religious experience for all involved. They are planning to set up shared spaces within the Olympic and Paralympic Village in a way that respects different religious traditions and is mindful of French regulations.
“The Christians, respecting Protestant sensitivities, compromised on the types of crucifixes and icons they would bring into the hall – excluding, for example, a statue of Jesus on the cross,” the Associated Press reported. [the multi-faith center] “We act with discretion so as not to cause trouble to non-believers.” Muslim and Jewish pastors deliberately sit next to each other as a model of peaceful coexistence.
Olympic chaplains of all faiths are making sure athletes are prioritized and cared for. Their goal is not to proselytize. Missionaries should be careful.
So while there may be many evangelists at the Olympics this year, we hope their efforts do not overshadow the incredible work Olympic chaplains are doing to create a safe and supportive spiritual environment for all athletes.
Let the game begin.
