From Christopher Joyce, CitizenGO <[email protected]>
Subject Arrogance. Contempt. Mockery. The Fight Continues ✝️
Date November 30, 2024 6:41 PM
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Dear John,

<p>Arrogance. Contempt. Mockery.&nbsp;</p> <p>This is what greeted us in Lausanne when we confronted the International Olympic Committee (IOC) at their headquarters.</p> <p>With 400,000 signatures in hand, we demanded an apology for the grotesque parody of the Last Supper displayed during the Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony in July.&nbsp;</p> <p>I shouldn&rsquo;t be surprised at this point, but what I encountered was beyond shocking.&nbsp;</p> <p>Instead of remorse, the IOC laughed in our faces. The IOC&rsquo;s Public Affairs Director, Christian Klaue, refused to acknowledge any wrongdoing and even had the audacity to suggest such an insult could happen again&hellip;</p> <p><strong>This is the same elite mindset we faced in Paris&mdash;a belief that Christianity is fair game for insult and that those who defend it can be silenced with intimidation.</strong></p> <p>Here&rsquo;s the video where you can see the CitizenGO team&rsquo;s protest action at the heart of the International Olympic Committee in Lausanne:</p> <p style="text-align: center;"><a href= "[link removed]" target="_blank" ><img src="[link removed]" alt="" width="350" height="175" constrain="true" imagepreview="false" border="" /></a><br /></p> <p>Let me take you back to what happened in Paris&mdash; a chilling display of injustice that has only strengthened our resolve to defend our faith and fight tirelessly for our freedoms.</p> <p>Earlier this year, CitizenGO responded to the Paris Olympics&rsquo; appalling opening ceremony&mdash;a grotesque parody of the Last Supper that mocked Christianity&mdash;with a peaceful protest.</p> <p>We commissioned a bus to drive through the streets of Paris, emblazoned with a clear and simple message: &ldquo;Stop Attacks on Christians.&rdquo;</p> <p><img src="[link removed]" alt="" width="350" height="175" constrain="true" imagepreview="false" border="" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" />For nine hours, it traversed the bustling city, weaving through crowded streets and reaching countless onlookers&mdash;citizens, tourists, police officers, and even the occasional Olympian&mdash;all without incident.</p> <p>Then, suddenly, armed police surrounded the bus and pulled it over at gunpoint.</p> <p><img src="[link removed]" alt="" width="233" height="350" constrain="true" imagepreview="false" border="" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" />What followed was state repression at its ugliest. We were:</p> <ul> <li>Stripped of our belongings and left vulnerable.</li> <li>Denied access to lawyers and contact with our families.</li> <li>Locked in degrading cells overnight, some of us were denied access to food and water.</li> </ul> <p>Even after our release, the authorities abused their power further. They escorted the bus out of Paris, despite admitting that no laws had been broken and that the driver was entirely blameless.</p> <p><em>This wasn&rsquo;t about legality&mdash;it was about silencing Christians who dared to speak out.</em></p> <p>It&rsquo;s hard not to wonder if those nine hours of inaction earlier in the day were spent by the authorities plotting how to shut us down. The protest was entirely legal, peaceful, and effective&mdash;too effective, it seems. One officer later admitted he wasn&rsquo;t even sure why we&rsquo;d been arrested, saying the orders had &ldquo;come from above.&rdquo;</p> <p>When they couldn&rsquo;t find a legitimate way to stop us, they resorted to brute force and intimidation.</p> <p>But the fight didn&rsquo;t end there.</p> <p><strong>Determined to ensure your voices were heard, we brought your message directly to the IOC&rsquo;s doorstep in Lausanne.&nbsp;</strong></p> <p>With 400,000 signatures in hand, we demanded an apology for the grotesque mockery of Christianity at the Paris Olympics and guarantees that such blasphemy would never happen again.</p> <p>The response? <strong>A masterclass in arrogance and contempt.</strong></p> <p>The IOC&rsquo;s Public Affairs Director, Christian Klaue, dismissed our concerns outright. He denied that the Last Supper parody was offensive and treated our petition as though it were meaningless.&nbsp;</p> <p>Even worse, with a smirk, he told my colleague, Sebastian, that such performances could happen again, saying, &ldquo;LA is a very creative place.&rdquo;</p> <p>The IOC&rsquo;s message was clear: they don&rsquo;t care about Christians, and they don&rsquo;t believe they have to answer to us.</p> <p>The IOC may laugh at us, and the French authorities may have thought their handcuffs and cells would break us&mdash;but they were wrong.</p> <p><strong>We are taking legal action against the IOC to ensure they face the consequences of their disdainful actions.</strong></p> <p><strong>At the same time, we are pursuing justice for the abuses and wrongful treatment we endured at the hands of the French authorities in Paris.</strong></p> <p>This is more than a single protest; it&rsquo;s a stand against the growing wave of censorship and hostility toward Christianity in a world that increasingly marginalizes and disrespects our faith.</p> <p>I am profoundly grateful for your unwavering support. Your strength, prayers, and solidarity fuel everything we do. From the depths of my heart, thank you for standing with us in this fight. We could not do this without you.</p>
In faith and solidarity,
<i>Christopher Joyce and the entire CitizenGO Team<i/>
<p><strong></strong></p> <p><strong>P.S.</strong> Together, we are a powerful force, proving to the world that Christians will never be mocked, silenced, or ignored. Could you support our fight to demand - with all legal means at our disposal -&nbsp; <em>an apology for the grotesque mockery of Christianity at the Paris Olympics?&nbsp;</em></p> <a href=
"[link removed]" target="_blank"
>If this is work you are proud of and you have the means, please consider making a regular contribution to our movement. 5 Dollars a month means we can always keep up the fight. </a>

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