Olympics are sacrilegious
• Hodgepodge
The Olympics return to their city of origin. Some locals aren't happy. Smiley-faced dolls of ancient gods offend their senses of piety and propriety.
"It's insulting," said Apostolos Amyras, publisher of the monthly Hellenic Religion magazine, which promotes the mysticism of antiquity. "They took the names of two of our gods and they demeaned them."
Followers of Ancient Gods Have Gripes
And there are a few Greek priests that could do our own American fundies proud.
In the weeks before these Summer Games began, a few outspoken and fundamentalist-minded priests preached that old-time religion, complaining --- in print --- that the Olympics were sacrilegious. "We're reveling too much in the pagan pastimes. I don't approve," Father Peter, a priest in Marathon, told Runner's World magazine in its latest issue.