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Such overt attempts to "baptize" the Olympics are long gone, but a Christian perspective is still valuable. As William Baker, a history professor at the University of Maine, mused on Australian public radio, "If Christ came to the Sydney Olympics, I suspect that he would be impressed with that grandeur, and with the splendor of the event. I suspect that he would especially recognize a kind of religious or semi-religious atmosphere being engendered. If one listens closely, however, one might hear him remark that there is a difference between grandeur on the one hand, and glitz on the other. He might further remind us that splendor does not necessarily rhyme with spender, and that gaudiness is not godliness. He might."

The transcript of Professor Baker's lecture can be found at www.abc.net.au/
rn/talks/8.30/relrpt/stories/s75671.htm

For an article from the Sydney Morning Herald suggesting why Protestant countries win more medals, see www.smh.com.au/news/0009/19/text/features12.html

Elesha can be reached at cheditor@ChristianityToday.com.

Copyright © 2000 by the author or Christianity Today International/Christian History magazine.
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