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Editorial: As Games begin, politics recedes



IN BEIJING, AS IN OTHER OLYMPICS, WORLD WILL FOCUS ON THE ATHLETES?


Friday, August 8, 2008
Story appeared in MAIN NEWS section, Page A16
Leading up to the third Summer Olympics to be held in Asia – the others were 1964 in Tokyo and 1988 in Seoul – the world has been aswirl in the politics of the 2008 Beijing games.U.S. swimmer Amanda Beard took part in a naked protest against the international fur trade as part of a publicity campaign run by the animal rights group, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. American cyclists walked off the plane wearing masks, protesting Beijing smog.Activists are using the limelight of the Olympics to oppose China's policies in the Tibet and Xinjiang regions and in Sudan's Darfur region. President Bush used a pre-Olympics speech to declare that only respect for human rights would allow China to realize its full potential. -


Friday, August 8, 2008 said:

Worship?


Despite strict statements made by the Chinese government that it will not tolerate evangelism during the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, many Christian athletes are planning to share the roles God has played in their lives. Section 51 of the Olympic Charter states, no kind of demonstration or political, religious or racial propaganda is permitted in any Olympic sites, venues or other areas. Unfortunately, the Olympics become a worship of man, the worship of his body. The Olympics is a sports fair, a flesh fair, flesh peddler.The worship of the body. So sex is included as a part, but in some ways a very minor part. Sports glorifies sex, but at the same time belittles it and pretends to dislike it. The ultimate manifestation of all of these is War!--His physical prowess, his mechanical ingenuity, his tactical genius and his indomitable spirit. See how this competitive sports thing has been the final stages of every great civilisation and empire.
Ted Rudow III,MA