A Church of Ireland minister has said that Christianity nowadays is an “easy target for abuse”, amid an international furore over the Olympic opening ceremony.

Rev Alan Irwin, a cleric based in Co Fermanagh, said that the live global broadcast would not have dared to deride other religions – particularly Islam – in a similar fashion.

The Olympic opening ceremony on Friday has been heavily criticised for its alleged ‘woke’ messaging, largely linked to transgenderism.

Some examples included an androgynous man in lipstick prancing in the colours of the pride flag, a man in a beard dressed as a woman dancing raunchily on a catwalk, and a male performer with hearts over his nipples gyrating frantically in a leather miniskirt.

placeholder image — A still from the opening ceremony footage, which has been interpreted as a kind of parody of The Last Supper

What particularly enraged some viewers though was the similarity between the famous painting 'The Last Supper' by Leonardo da Vinci (which depicts Jesus Christ surrounded by his 12 disciples), and a segment involving a self-described “proud fat lesbian” in a halo and surrounded by drag performers.

In an article in The Spectator magazine, author Gareth Roberts summed the evening up as a “goading” display of “wokeness”.

Meanwhile, Twitter boss Elon Musk told his 192 million followers the 'Last Supper' display had been “extremely offensive to Christians” and showed “Christianity has become toothless”.

A spokeswoman for the Olympic organisers said “if people have taken any offence, we of course are really sorry”.

But the man in charge of the parade – choreographer Thomas Jolly – said the 'Last Supper' segment was instead meant to have depicted “a big pagan party linked to the gods of Olympus”.

One of the key performers of the evening, Phillipe Katerine, was quoted as telling French media that “if there was no polemic, it would not be fun”.

Rev Irwin said Christians are “easy prey” and questioned the sincerity of the apology.

“I suppose in many ways Christianity just seems to be easy target for derision and abuse,” he told the News Letter.

“There wouldn't be the same done for other faiths; particularly, it certainly wouldn't be done for those who maybe were of a Muslim faith.”

On the apology from the Olympic organisers, he said: “It's already done. They've apologised, but it's forever in the world …

“They're sorry now, but what was their thinking at the outset: was there no real consideration given as to how this might be perceived?

“They've issued an apology, but it's the outworking of what that apology is going to deliver and how it's going to be in the future.”

Rev Irwin also said: “I often find sometimes our churches locally are not as quick to speak up or speak out ... that's where a lot of the ordinary pew-fillers, the parishioners in the pew, get frustrated.

“On those issues you expect the church to speak out and speak up and say 'no - this is unacceptable’.”

The Church of Ireland said in a statement when contacted: “The Paris 2024 Organising Committee has acknowledged and apologised for the offence caused to Christians during the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games on Friday evening.”