Imagine (Part 2) The Olympics

It’s kinda bizarre to consider how the song Imagine, by John Lennon, can advocate “no religion” and still be thought of as a religious or “spiritual” song. The tune is played on church bells, performed by church choirs, and is believed by some to speak about a “spiritual brotherhood” of man. It's kinda bizarre that avowed atheists can embrace it as they imagine a world where God is dead and there is no resurrection of the man named Jesus Christ. In a sense the song has universal appeal; it even evokes a sort of religious spirit to it, as it about spiritual things, but then again, not really. It’s about there being no heaven or hell. It bizarre, but it’s perhaps one reason why the song was selected to be highlighted at a 2006 major world event…the Olympics.

The Olympic Games

Legend is that Hercules, the son of the Greek God Zeus, ruler of all the “gods” is the one who established the first Olympic Games sometime around 776 BC in the valley of Olympia, Greece. One should keep in mind that this was more than a sport. It was a religion and going to the games was a religious experience for the people.

The Olympic games were considered the highest expression of Hellenistic religion and ritual but more than that they were raw. They were savage. Sometimes only the fittest would survive. The one who was the strongest, the fastest and the swiftest, would be the one whom the gods would bestow their favors... fertility, fame and of course, fortune.

The games were full of ritual and pageantry and both religious and political beliefs and practices were deeply entwined in the production of the event. It generated revenue for the temples and their prostitutes, as people traveled to watch the games and be part of the ceremonies to the multiplicity of gods and goddesses which were worshipped. There was revenue and notoriety to be gained the hosting government as well, not to mention the local butchers, bakers and candlestick makers, and other various business entrepreneurs, as hordes of athletes and athletic devotees made pilgrimage to attend.

The official games were played every four years like clockwork through the centuries until Emperor Theodosius abolished the games in 394 AD, citing that he believed the nudity and violence, as well as the bloody religious sacrifices that were integral to the games were immoral, (this of course based upon the Christianizing of the Greek and Roman world by the apostles in the previous centuries. Then, for the next 1500 years the Olympics were ancient history, buried beneath the ever changing landscape of the earth, that is, at least until 1875. In 1875, the ruins of the famous Olympic events were excavated and a Frenchman, Baron Pierre de Coubertin, was inspired. He began his lifelong pursuit, that of rekindling the long-lost Olympic flame.

Coubertin not only spent his personal fortune, but his life to making his dream of reinstating the Olympics. He believed that healthy competition would instill quality character in young people. He also believed that people having a national pride and patriotism would help promote a sort of universal ethics, something that he believed would promote peace between the nations of the world. Coubertin is not only known as the man who made his dream become reality, but he is known as the father of Olympism, a “philosophy of life” that uses sports to teach “the balance of body, will and mind.”

It was April 5, 1896, when the first World Olympic Games since 394 were held in Athens, but it didn’t happen without difficulty. Not everyone or every country was willing to participate in or to help fund the games. One of the reasons was the pagan origins of the games, another is the sheer difficulty in promoting friendly games between warring nations. Just the same, over time the idea of using sports and sporting events to unite a diverse world seems to be catching on.

In the Olympics, winning is everything. An athlete has to be not only the best that they can be, but they must be better than all of the rest of the competition. In the process, some competitors have been willing to compromise integrity for the win. Many athletes have fallen into the use of drugs that dangle promise as they follow personal dreams of winning the highly coveted titles of glory and fame, not to mention the subsequent financial opportunities. With so much financial opportunity, the games become more than merely "games.' When winning becomes everything, then countries and spectators have had their ethical issues too.

Just like in the olden days of Athens, part of the planning process for the Olympics involves calling an “Olympic Truce,” and it is no easy task. This involves not just getting nations, but getting criminals to halt the crime and convincing terrorists to take a respite so people can get together. In the past, Olympic games have had to be canceled due to World Wars I and II. It is common for the games to be used as political targets.

At the Olympics in Munich, Germany, 1972, a band of terrorists called Black September attacked an Olympic weightlifting team and took several of them hostage. The watching world was stunned as terrorists beat one with the butt of a gun on international television. Rescue attempts failed and eleven members of the kidnapped group were murdered.

The games continued although the competition was suspended briefly due to the hostage-taking, and later Olympic memorial services were held and televised. The Olympic flag itself was flown half-mast in honor of those who had died. It's interesting to note that as the flags of participating countries were lowered, ten participating nations balked at this, having no desire to honor those that died. Instead of allowing their flags to be lowered, they demanded to raise their country’s flags. They did, and the games continued.


In Atlanta Georgia, USA 1996, a pipe bomb explosion from an abandoned back, killed two and injured over a hundred people in Centennial Olympic Park. Eric Robert Rudolph, who was subsequently tracked down and arrested for the crime, pleaded guilty. In his statements, he attempted to justify his actions, saying he deplored his country's (USA) “sanctioning of abortion on demand.” and their sponsoring of the Olympics which celebrated what he called, the values of global socialism, as “perfectly expressed in the song Imagine by John Lennon,” (Rudolph’s statement; Wikipedia)


When it became known that Rudolph was involved in other politically motivated crimes, the media labeled him a "Christian Terrorist." Apparently he appeared religious, either that or the media wanted him to seem that way. He was not a Christian terrorist however, for not only is that an oxymoronic term, but Rudolph himself in letters, (as reported by USA Today) says he is not a “sinner in need of salvation” and makes claims to reading Nietzsche, not the Bible.

Rudolph was serving four terms of life imprisonment for his crimes when Lennon’s famous song, Imagine, was played for the opening ceremony of the 2006 Winter Olympics held in Turino, Italy.

(more on the next post.. Imagine Part 3)