The use of language in front of people or in print with the purpose of insulting God or the teachings of the Christian religion is blasphemy. In some states (like Oklahoma and Massachusetts), it can even be illegal to disparage God and his teachings in front of others.
As of 2014, roughly 26% of the nations and territories on earth had anti-blasphemy laws or regulations, according to Pew Research Center.
Blasphemy laws are frequently used to punish persons for having opinions and engaging in actions that differ from the majority on religious and sensitive matters and to stifle religious criticism.
Criticizing someone is different from blaspheming, though. While blasphemy is the defamation of religion in word or deed, criticism falls under the umbrella of freedom of speech or expression and allows people to criticize a religion based on logic, reason, and rationality without using derogatory language.
Human rights organizations have repeatedly denounced them, and the United Nations Human Rights Council has passed resolutions condemning them.
Blasphemy laws on the books have not been implemented for many years in various areas of the world. Still, since 2015, a concerted international campaign has tried to repeal these laws in an effort to highlight the ways in which these laws are used globally to oppress religious and political minorities.
Blasphemy laws are justified by certain states as “safeguarding” the majority’s religious convictions, whereas in other nations, they are viewed as providing protection for minorities’ religious beliefs.
Laws that provide compensation to persons who have been offended because of their religion are included in the category of blasphemy laws, in addition to those that forbid blasphemy or blasphemous libel. These blasphemy laws may outlaw the following actions:
- Disparaging religion or religious organizations
- Vilifying religion and its adherents
- Disparaging religion and its practitioners
- Insulting religious sentiments
- Mocking religion
Some blasphemy laws, like those that were once in force in Denmark, instead “sanctions speech that insults” rather than criminalizing “speech that conveys critique.”
Human rights advocates push for rules that clearly distinguish between safeguarding individual freedoms and restricting free expression too generally.
Countries are required to take legal action against “any advocacy of national racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility, or violence” under Article 20 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. However, they point out that such protections must be strictly limited and do not support the outright ban on blasphemy.
What Are a Few Blasphemy Examples?
Examples of potentially blasphemous utterances include the following:
- The Bible contains no truth.
- Christianity is “monkey business.”
- “All faiths deceive people.”
- Sneering abuse directed at the Bible.
Blasphemy Laws: Are they Constitutional?
Blasphemy statutes are not universally considered to be unconstitutional by the courts, and no one court has made this determination. However, it has been determined that blasphemy laws that are not meant to stop violence and maintain public peace are unconstitutional. Additionally, even if the laws themselves are valid, several judges have expressed concern about how they are implemented and applied.
The New York Times stated in 2009 that blasphemy-related laws existed in Massachusetts, Michigan, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Wyoming, and Pennsylvania. In 2010, it was decided that Pennsylvania’s blasphemy statute was unconstitutional. Blasphemy laws that date back to the country’s inception are still in effect in some US jurisdictions.
Massachusetts
Chapter 272 of the Massachusetts General Laws, for instance, which was modeled after a similar colonial-era Massachusetts Bay statute passed in 1697, states:
“Whoever willfully blasphemes the holy name of God by denying, cursing, or contumely reproaching God, His creation, government, or final judging of the world, or by cursing or contumely 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.”
Maryland
According to the history of Maryland’s blasphemy legislation, the First Amendment was not understood to preclude states from enacting such restrictions even into the 1930s. Blasphemy was illegal in Maryland before 1879, according to a codification of the state’s laws that stated:
“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, of and concerning the Trinity, or of and concerning 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.”
The marginalia indicates that this statute was passed in 1819, and a related statute was passed in 1723. The statute’s unaltered text at Art. 27, Sec. 20, was still in effect in 1904. This law was still in effect in Maryland as late as 1939. The Maryland Court of Appeals, the state’s highest court, however, deemed the blasphemy legislation unconstitutional in Maryland v. Irving K. West in 1972. Until at least 2003, this law was still in effect.
Maine
According to Maine’s law, blasphemy can be committed by insulting God, His creation, government, the ultimate judgment of the world, Jesus Christ, the Holy Ghost, or the Holy Scriptures as found in the canonical books of the Old and New Testament, or by subjecting any of these enumerated Beings or Scriptures to contempt and ridicule. The state does not have to prove that the offense occurred.
Michigan
The law in Michigan says the following:
“Punishment under Section 102 is a misdemeanor for anyone who blasphemes the holy name of God intentionally through cursing or contumaciously reproaching God.”
The following is a second “anti-profanity” statute that also contains “blasphemy” components:
“Cursing and swearing are prohibited under Section 103. Anyone who has reached the age of discretion and profanely curses, damns, or swears by the names of God, Jesus Christ, or the Holy Ghost is guilty of a misdemeanor. No such prosecution may be pursued unless it is done so within five days of the offense’s commission.”
Charges for Blasphemy
Abner Kneeland was the last American to be imprisoned for blasphemy in 1838 (a Massachusetts case: Commonwealth v. Kneeland).
Anthony Bimba, a Lithuanian-American Communist, was tried with blasphemy and sedition in Brockton, Massachusetts in February 1926 under a provision enacted during the Salem Witch Trials more than 200 years earlier.
Following that, there was a well-reported week-long trial in which Bimba’s lawyer compared atheism to religion and argued that people had a constitutional right to believe or not believe in God. Although Bimba was ultimately found not guilty of blasphemy, he was found guilty of sedition and sentenced to a $100 fine.
Should I Speak with a Lawyer with Freedom of Speech Experience?
You should speak with a government attorney if you believe that your rights to free speech or the press, which are protected by the constitution, have been violated.
Your rights will be explained to you, and any potential legal remedies you may have will be preserved when you speak with an attorney who is qualified and knowledgeable about your constitutional protections.
