Blasphemy Day<\/a>.\u201d I don\u2019t think that a day dedicated to blasphemy makes that much sense, from a certain point of view. Can one be obliged to blaspheme, and can blasphemy be done half-heartedly \u2013 the way some other people go to church because it is a particular day? There is a certain irony about the concept. But having such a day makes the important point that there should not be laws that deny the right of people to view other religious viewpoints, or religion in general, as worthy of derision, and to express that viewpoint in words, in art, or in other ways. \u00a0 And to the extent that that is the aim of this day, I am support of it.<\/p>\nProtecting freedom of speech is important, and the rationale behind my viewpoint has deep roots in the Bible \u2013 for instance, in the story of Gideon, with its argument that, if Ba\u2019al doesn\u2019t care enough to punish the one who damaged his cultic object, then why should any human being inflict punishment for that reason? That stance is also found in the Wisdom literature and in the New Testament, in the emphasis on not repaying evil for evil, but leaving judgment up to God.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Leah Libresco has a post about the nature of blasphemy, in which she shared this image, which I also found shared today on the Atheist Revolution blog\u00a0: In her post, Libresco asks whether it is possible to commit blasphemy if you are not first convinced of the holiness of that which you then in insult. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[131,80,91],"tags":[1235,1236,1646,2451,3521,3615,5612,11364],"class_list":["post-9768","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christianity-religion","category-religion","category-star-wars-science-fiction","tag-blasphemy","tag-blasphemy-day","tag-catholic","tag-darth-vader","tag-force","tag-freedom-of-speech","tag-jedi","tag-sith"],"yoast_head":"\n
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<\/p>\n