Tag Archives: blasphemy

An Atheist Leads a Prayer at a City Council Meeting…

No, it’s not the beginning of a joke, but it made me smile. Naturally, before Preston Smith, an atheist, got started on his invocation, a number of the pious council members of the fine city of Lake Worth, Florida, split … Continue reading

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The Easter Zombie Passage in Matthew Casts Doubt on the Resurrection of Jesus

Matthew 27:51-53. Have you ever read it? Immediately following Jesus’s death, Matthew says that there was an earthquake that exposed numerous graves on the outskirts of Jerusalem, and “many bodies of the saints which slept arose.” Not only did many among … Continue reading

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Jesus Prayers in City Council Meetings?

Atheist v. religionist. The old (inconclusive) back-and-forth. I hope the Supreme Court sides with the atheists on this one. And as an agnostic, if these sorts of prayers get upheld, I want my turn on the invocation list. If someone … Continue reading

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Christian Rimsha Masih’s Alleged Blasphemy in Nuclear-Armed Pakistan

As evidenced by the recent ill-treatment of Christian Rimsha Masih, the average Pakistani Muslim, in approving that treatment, appears to take his or her Islam straight. In the past 24 hours, Rimsha, so that she does not get murdered prior … Continue reading

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Twitter Blasphemy: 16,000 Facebookers Agree That Hamza Kashgari Should Be Executed for Insulting the Prophet

The number of people who have joined a Facebook page calling for the death of Hamza Kashgari for Twitter blasphemy against the Prophet Muhammad has climbed from 8,000 on Thursday to 16,000 this morning (I just checked the page). Yesterday, … Continue reading

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Repeal Blasphemy Laws in Ireland?

Yes!!!

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St Paul Meets Jehu: Is Quran Burner Terry Jones a Blasphemer or an Iconoclast?

I’m not sure blasphemy (a word from the Greek blasphemos, meaning “evil speaking”) is the right word for what Florida pastor Terry Jones did. To my mind, blasphemy has two levels. The first is honest and conscientious expression of non-Orthodox opinion. If I … Continue reading

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Asia Bibi: Christian Mother of Five Sentenced to Death for Blasphemy in Pakistan

Pakistan’s population is 170 million, three million of whom are Christians. The country also has three million Hindus and a miniscule Sikh community (about 20,000 people). Presumably there are no out of the closet atheists anywhere in Pakistan. And no Jews. Below is … Continue reading

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A Thoroughly Awesome Take on Civility in Public Discourse from Terry Teachout (and George Washington)

Not that I always live up to it, but I think that this is great: George Washington once drew up a list of rules of civility. Here is the first one: “1st Every Action done in Company, ought to be … Continue reading

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Steven Novella, the Ambivalent Blasphemer

At SkepticBlog this past week, Steven Novella endorses blasphemy as social protest (sort of):  There are those, for example, who champion blasphemy as a form of social protest. PZ, Penn and Teller, Christopher Hitchens and others argue that nothing should … Continue reading

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An Apt Quote Against Ireland’s New Anti-Free Speech Blasphemy Law

C. Bradlaugh, quoted in Hypatia Bradlaugh Bonner’s Penalties Upon Opinion (1934): Laws to punish differences of opinion are as useless as they are monstrous. Differences of opinion on politics are denounced and punished as seditious, on religious topics as blasphemous, … Continue reading

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A Profound Job-Like Meditation on Suffering

And probably now illegal to perform in Ireland: I think the secular blogs—and I include mine among them—should call for a boycott of Ireland’s tourism industry until its anti-free speech laws are rescinded. I’m in. 20th century journalist, I.F. Stone: [N]o … Continue reading

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Did the Irish Just Lose Their Right to Free Speech with Regard to Criticism of Religion?

It appears so. Ireland now has an unambiguous and explicit blasphemy law, passed on Friday, and its language is chilling. Staks Rosch has all the details here. Below are the Blasphemy Clauses of the Defamation Bill. Let me emphasize again … Continue reading

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The Line Between Blasphemy and Iconoclasm: Why PZ Myers Crossed It, and Why Atheists Should Take Him to Task for Doing So

The right to blaspheme religion—as well as mock irreligion—must be vigorously protected.   This may seem like an uncivil statement, but it is actually the opposite.   Nothing could be more corrosive to human interaction than the inability to express … Continue reading

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