Blasphemy

Blasphemy is the defamation of the name of one or more gods. These may include using sacred names as stress expletives without intention to pray or speak of sacred matters. Sometimes blasphemy is used loosely to mean any profane language, for example in "With much hammering and blasphemy, the locomotive's replacement spring was finally fitted."

In a broader sense, blasphemy is irreverence toward something considered sacred or inviolable. In this broader sense the term is used by Sir Francis Bacon in the Advancement of Learning, when he speaks of "blasphemy against learning."

Many cultures disapprove of speech or writing which defames the deity or deities of their established religions, and these restrictions have the force of law in some countries.

Etymology

From Middle English blasfemen, from Old French blasfemer, from Late Latin blasphemare, from Greek blasphemein, from blaptein, "to injure," and pheme, "reputation." Blasphemy, which was opposed to "euphemy" (see euphemism), and has also given "blame" from Old French blasmer.

Blasphemy laws

There has been a recent tendency in Western countries towards the repeal or reform of blasphemy laws, and these laws are only infrequently enforced where they exist. Blasphemy laws - nowadays often altered to include blasphemy regardless of religion - exist in several countries, such as in:

• Austria (Articles 188, 189 of the penal code)
• Denmark (Paragraph 140 of the penal code). Was up to revision in 2004, but failed to gain majority. Has been discussed since, and especially after the Mohammed cartoons crisis.
• Finland (Section 10 of chapter 17 of the penal code)
  • Unsuccessful attempts were made to rescind the law in 1914, 1917, 1965, 1970 and 1998.
• Germany (Article 166 of the penal code, see also the Manfred van H. case)
• Greece
• Blasphemy laws of the Islamic Republic of Iran
• Ireland (See: Irish Constitution)
• Iceland
• Italy
• The Netherlands (Article 147 of the penal code)
• New Zealand (Section 123 of the Crimes Act 1961)
• Norway (section 142 of the the Norwegian Penal Code never applied).
• Spain (Article 525 of the penal code)
• Switzerland (Article 261 of the penal code)
• The United Kingdom

European initiatives

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg adopted on 29 June 2007 Recommendation 1805 (2007) on blasphemy, religious insults and hate speech against persons on grounds of their religion. This Recommendation set a number of guidelines for member states of the Council of Europe in view of Articles 10 (freedom of expression) and 9 (freedom of thought, conscience and religion) of the European Convention on Human Rights. In this area, there is also considerable case-law by the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

The United States of America

Some US states still have blasphemy laws on the books from the founding days. Chapter 272 of the Massachusetts General Laws states, for example:

Section 36. Whoever willfully blasphemes the holy name of God by denying, cursing or contumeliously reproaching God, His creation, government or final judging of the world, or by cursing or contumeliously reproaching Jesus Christ or the Holy Ghost, or by cursing or contumeliously reproaching or exposing to contempt and ridicule, the holy word of God contained in the holy scriptures shall be punished by imprisonment in jail for not more than one year or by a fine of not more than three hundred dollars, and may also be bound to good behavior.

The history of Maryland's blasphemy statutes suggests that even into the 1930s, the First Amendment was not recognized as preventing states from passing such laws. An 1879 codification of Maryland statutes prohibited blasphemy:

Art. 72, sec. 189. If any person, by writing or speaking, shall blaspheme or curse God, or shall write or utter any profane words of and concerning our Saviour, Jesus Christ, or of and concerning the Trinity, or any of the persons thereof, he shall, on conviction, be fined not more than one hundred dollars, or imprisoned not more than six months, or both fined and imprisoned as aforesaid, at the discretion of the court.

According to the marginalia, this statute was adopted in 1819, and a similar law dates back to 1723. In 1904, the statute was still on the books at Art. 27, sec. 20, unaltered in text.[1]. As late as 1939, this statute was still the law of Maryland.[2] It is unclear from the statutes and notes when Maryland's blasphemy statute was last prosecuted.

The last person to be jailed in the United States for blasphemy was Abner Kneeland in 1838, as decided by the Massachusetts case Commonwealth v. Kneeland. However, this was prior to the ratification of the 14th Amendment incorporating the Bill of Rights to apply to the states and not just the federal government.

The US Supreme Court in Joseph Burstyn, Inc v. Wilson 1952 held that the New York State blasphemy law was an unconstitutional prior restraint on freedom of speech. The court stated that "It is not the business of government in our nation to suppress real or imagined attacks upon a particular religious doctrine, whether they appear in publications, speeches or motion pictures."

Pakistan

Among Muslim-majority countries, Pakistan has the strictest anti-blasphemy laws. In 1982, President Zia ul-Haq introduced Section 295B to the Pakistan Penal Code punishing "defiling the Holy Qur'an" with life imprisonment. In 1986, Section 295C was introduced, mandating the death penalty for "use of derogatory remarks in respect of the Holy Prophet."

In 1990 the Federal Shari’ah Court ruled that the penalty should be a mandatory death sentence, with no right to reprieve or pardon. This is binding, but the government is yet to formally amend the law, which means that the provision for life sentence still formally exists, and is used by the government as a concession to critics of the death penalty. In 2004, the Pakistani parliament approved a law to reduce the scope of the blasphemy laws. The amendment to the law means that police officials will have to investigate accusations of blasphemy to ensure that they are well founded, before presenting criminal charges.

However, the law is used against political adversaries or personal enemies, by Muslim fundamentalists against Christians, Hindus and Sikhs, or for personal revenge. Especially Ahmadi Muslims are victims of the blasphemy law. They claim to be Muslims themselves, but under the blasphemy law, they are not allowed to use Islamic vocabulary or rituals.

The Pakistani Catholic bishops' Justice and Peace Commission complained in July 2005 that since 1988, some 650 people had been falsely accused and arrested under the blasphemy law. Moreover, over the same period, some 20 people accused of the same offense had been killed. As of July 2005, 80 Christians were in prison accused of blasphemy.

Christians in Pakistan protested Dan Brown's novel The Da Vinci Code as blasphemous, with support of Muslims as well. On 3 June, 2006, Pakistan banned the film. Culture Minister Gulab Jamal said: "Islam teaches us to respect all the prophets of God Almighty and degradation of any prophet is tantamount to defamation of the rest."

United Kingdom

Blasphemy laws in England have never been repealed. The last person in Britain to be sent to prison for blasphemy was John William Gott on 9 December 1921. He had three previous convictions for blasphemy when he was prosecuted for publishing two pamphlets which satirised the biblical story of Jesus entering Jerusalem (Matthew 21:2-7), comparing Jesus to a circus clown. He was sentenced to nine months' hard labour.

In 1977, Denis Lemon, the editor of Gay News was found guilty of blasphemous libel for publishing James Kirkup's poem The Love that Dares to Speak its Name which allegedly vilified Christ and his life (Whitehouse v. Lemon). Lemon was fined £500 and sentenced to a suspended sentence of nine months imprisonment. It had been "touch and go," said the judge, whether he would actually send Lemon to jail.

In 2002, a deliberate and well-publicised public repeat reading of the poem The Love that Dares to Speak its Name took place on the steps of St Martin-in-the-Fields church in Trafalgar Square and failed to lead to any prosecution.

The last prosecution for blasphemy in Scotland was in 1843.

Blasphemy in Christianity

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Of Blasphemy, from the Narrenschiff (The Ship of Fools); woodcut attributed to Albrecht Dürer

In the third book of the Old Testament, Leviticus 24:16 states that those who speak blasphemy "shall surely be put to death."

Christian theology may condemn blasphemy, as in the Luke 12:10, where blaspheming the Holy Spirit is spoken of as unforgivable.

However, in the simpler message of the time of Jesus, when Christian ideas relied upon the influence of natural authority against the then secular religious power of the Second Jewish Temple period, (positions exchanged in the centuries that followed), this admonishment may be interpreted as warning against an actual reaction from the Holy Spirit in the form of a curse that can irreparably harm a person (and thus be unforgivable but not by dictate). This statement in effect establishes the importance of this aspect of the Godhead, rather than setting an arbitrary law.

A careful reading of Mark (from the American Standard) shows this: Mark 3:29 "But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin."

The Catholic Encyclopedia has a more extensive article on blasphemy.

Blasphemy in Islam

Blasphemy in Islam constitutes speaking ill of Muhammad, or any other prophet mentioned in the Qur'an. The Qur'an also states that it is blasphemy to claim that Jesus Christ (the son of Mary) is the son of God (5.017). Speaking ill of God is also blasphemy. In Islam, blasphemy is considered a sin. The Quran says "He forgives all sins, except disbelieving in God (blasphemy)." In Islam if a person dies while in blasphemy, they will not enter heaven, except if said person repented before death. About blasphemy and apostacy, Quran says;

“

The punishment of those who wage war against Allah and His Messenger, and strive with might for mischief through the land is: execution, or crucifixion, or the cutting off of hands and feet from opposite sides, or exile from the land: that is their disgrace in this world, and a heavy punishment is theirs in the Hereafter; [Surah Al-Maidah 5:33]

”

See also

• Freedom of speech versus blasphemy
• Blasphemy law in the United Kingdom
• Eternal sin
• Heresy
• Impiety
• Minced oath
• Profanity
• Sacrilege
• Victimless crime
• Gerard Reve Dutch author infamous for breaking a Dutch law against blasphemy in 1966.

External links and references

• Maledicta: The International Journal of Verbal Aggression (ISSN US 0363-3659)
• Levy, L. Blasphemy. Chapel Hill, 1993.
• Comprehensive academic study comparing global legal approaches to blasphemy in light of the Jyllands-Posten controversy
• Dartevelle, P., S Borg, Denis, Ph., Robyn, J. (eds.). Blasphèmes et libertés. Paris: CERF, 1993
• Plate, S. Brent Blasphemy: Art that Offends (London: Black Dog Publishing, 2006) [ISBN 1904772536]
• A More4 news film report on how insulting the prophet Mohammed in Pakistan is a capital offence, and defiling the Koran carries life imprisonment.

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