{"id":22899,"date":"2011-09-30T10:08:59","date_gmt":"2011-09-30T16:08:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/?p=22899"},"modified":"2011-09-30T10:08:59","modified_gmt":"2011-09-30T16:08:59","slug":"its-blasphemy-rights-day-dammit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2011\/09\/30\/its-blasphemy-rights-day-dammit.html","title":{"rendered":"It&#8217;s Blasphemy Rights Day, Dammit!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"480\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Rdv31I3wUqE\" width=\"640\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Blasphemy can be a lot of things &#8212; or, rather, a lot of things can be considered blasphemous. Questioning whether a religion is true (esp. if it&#8217;s the majority religion), criticizing a religion&#8217;s beliefs or doctrines or rules of behavior, mocking a religion or deity or the holy people of a religion, telling a religious joke &#8230;<\/p>\n<p>What someone else considers blasphemy may be something I consider funny.  Or rude. Or insightful.  But, regardless, blasphemy laws have no place in a free society &#8212; especially as they are all too often used as cudgels to oppress religious (or irreligious) minorities and dissenters.<\/p>\n<p>And blasphemy laws are also far too often simply ways of coddling the feelings of the devout, or or protecting the status\/dignity of the priesthood.  It seems unlikely that God is harmed by being mocked or insulted or denied &#8212; and, if so, God can do something about it. \u00a0No, we&#8217;re talking about humans being distressed or offended or having their feelings hurt or feathers ruffled. \u00a0And if someone&#8217;s faith may be shaken by hearing a blasphemy uttered &#8230; their faith doesn&#8217;t sound all that strong.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/jesus-says.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-18315\" title=\"Jesus says, &quot;Don't be a dick!&quot;\" src=\"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/jesus-says-300x179.jpg\" alt=\"Jesus says, &quot;Don't be a dick!&quot;\" width=\"300\" height=\"179\" srcset=\"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/jesus-says-300x179.jpg 300w, https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/jesus-says-160x95.jpg 160w, https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/jesus-says-75x44.jpg 75w, https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/jesus-says.jpg 352w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>As a general rule, &#8220;Don&#8217;t be a dick&#8221; is a good way to behave.  Being blasphemous just to torque others off is rude and usually counterproductive to any useful dialog.  But while it may may lead to social consequences, such behavior &#8212; or blasphemy for any purpose &#8212; doesn&#8217;t deserve <em>criminal<\/em> penalties.  Especially since one person&#8217;s honest expression of their own beliefs (or casual use of humor, or even a drawing of Jesus saying, &#8220;Don&#8217;t be a dick&#8221;) might be another person&#8217;s blasphemy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Blasphemy can be a lot of things &#8212; or, rather, a lot of things can be considered blasphemous. Questioning whether a religion is true (esp. if it&#8217;s the majority religion), criticizing a religion&#8217;s beliefs or doctrines or rules of behavior, mocking a religion or deity or the holy people of a religion, telling a religious &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2011\/09\/30\/its-blasphemy-rights-day-dammit.html\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;It&#8217;s Blasphemy Rights Day, Dammit!&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[27,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22899","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-religion","category-zt-pc"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":30336,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/09\/25\/the-blasphemy-of-anti-blasphemy-laws.html","url_meta":{"origin":22899,"position":0},"title":"The blasphemy of anti-blasphemy laws","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 25-Sep-12 8:05am","format":false,"excerpt":"It seems to me that anti-blasphemy laws serve two groups: \u00a0people who are offended by other folks behaving and speaking and writing \"blasphemy\", and (more importantly) people who want to control other people. (These are not exclusive groups.)Frankly, blasphemy laws strike me as, themselves, blasphemous, as they arrogate upon civil\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;~PlusPosts&quot;","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":133415,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/05\/07\/ah-blasphemy-laws.html","url_meta":{"origin":22899,"position":1},"title":"Ah, blasphemy laws","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 7-May-17 2:07pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Stephen Fry is apparently under investigation by Irish police for an interview a few years back in which he suggested that the problem of pain in this world does not reflect well on God.Well, he put it a bit more bluntly, but, boiled down, that's pretty much it.The investigation is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;~PlusPosts&quot;","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":30360,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/09\/26\/blasphemy-laws-are-about-power-not-holiness.html","url_meta":{"origin":22899,"position":2},"title":"Blasphemy laws are about power, not holiness","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 26-Sep-12 6:01pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Because they're about stomping down opposing views. \u00a0And, inevitably, they are used for trivial, abusive reasons. \u00a0For example ... Embedded Link Blasphemy Laws In Action: PASTA IS OFFENSIVE Edition | Popehat The push for modern blasphemy laws -- the argument that governments should individually or collectively punish expression that offends\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;~PlusPosts&quot;","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":133728,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/06\/25\/and-theyll-know-we-are-christians-by-our-love-3.html","url_meta":{"origin":22899,"position":3},"title":"&quot;And they&#039;ll know we are Christians by our love&quot;","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 25-Jun-17 10:34am","format":false,"excerpt":"What's striking in the lady's diatribes against those \"communist atheists\" wanting to erect a Clarence Darrow statue at the courthouse where the Scopes Monkey Trial was held (to go with the William Jennings Bryan statue erected a few years back) is less the constant veiled threats of violence than the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;~PlusPosts&quot;","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":681,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2001\/09\/01\/satanic_games.html","url_meta":{"origin":22899,"position":4},"title":"Satanic Games!","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 1-Sep-01 7:35pm","format":false,"excerpt":"The interesting web bit of the day. From Satanic Games: After an exhaustive research one commission, the Christian Life Ministries, tells the naked truth through these incisive comments: 'Dungeons &...","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Gaming&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Gaming","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/gaming"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7489,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2005\/02\/22\/church_and_stat.html","url_meta":{"origin":22899,"position":5},"title":"Church and state","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 22-Feb-05 1:00pm","format":false,"excerpt":"We are not in a theocracy. We are not moving toward a theocracy. We do seem to be moving toward a government and culture where majority religious beliefs (or at...","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Church &amp; State&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Church &amp; State","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law\/church-state"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22899","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22899"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22899\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}