George Bernard Shaw - Monty Python’s Life of Brian 1979 - Christopher Hitchens – Irenaeus - Leviticus 24:16 - Matthew 3:28&29 - Matthew 12:31&32 - Mark 2:7 - Mark 3:29 - Luke 12:10 - John Adams - Robert G Ingersoll - Giordano Bruno - Thomas Paine - Dan Savage - Herman Melville - Stephen Fry - Depeche Mode - David Attenborough - Richard Dawkins - Portillo’s State Secrets TV - Storyville: The Accused: Damned or Devoted? TV -
All great truths begin as blasphemies. George Bernard Shaw, Annajanska, 1919
How could it be worse? Jehovah! Monty Python’s Life of Brian 1979 ***** starring Graham Chapman & John Cleese & Terry Gilliam & Eric Idle & Terry Jones & Michael Palin & Kenneth Colley & Neil Innes & Gwen Taylor & Terence barler & Carol Cleveland & Spike Milligan et al, director Terry Jones, blasphemer
Rather than have a blasphemy law that only protects Christianity, which is the current state of affairs in Britain, the reason why Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses couldn’t be prosecuted, the Muslim demand was there should be a blasphemy law but it should extend to all religions. Christopher Hitchens, Islam and the West
Let those persons who blaspheme the Creator as do all the falsely so-called Gnostics be recognised as agents of Satan by all who worship God. Irenaeus
And he that blasphemeth the name of the Lord, he shall surely be put to death, and all the congregation shall certainly stone him: as well the stranger, as he that is born in the land, when he blasphemeth the name of the Lord, shall be put to death. Leviticus 24:16
Verily I say unto you, All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme:
But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation. Matthew 3:28&29
Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men.
And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come. Matthew 12:31&32
Why does this man thus talk blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone? Mark 2:7
But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation. Mark 3:29
And whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but unto him that blasphemeth against the Holy Ghost it shall not be forgiven. Luke 12:10
There exists, I believe, throughout the whole Christian world, a law which makes it blasphemy to deny, or to doubt the divine inspiration of all the books of the Old and New Testaments, from Genesis to Revelations. In most countries of Europe it is punished by fire at the stake, or the rack, or the wheel. In England itself, it is punished by boring through the tongue with a red-hot poker. In America it is not much better; even in our Massachusetts, which, I believe, upon the whole, is as temperate and moderate in religious zeal as most of the States, a law was made in the latter end of the last century, repealing the cruel punishments of the former laws, but substituting fine and imprisonment upon all those blasphemies upon any book of the Old Testament or New. John Adams, letter to Thomas Jefferson
Blasphemy is an epithet bestowed by superstition upon common sense. Robert G Ingersoll
An infinite God ought to be able to protect himself, without going in partnership with State Legislatures. Certainly he ought not so to act that laws become necessary to keep him from being laughed at. No one thinks of protecting Shakespeare from ridicule, by the threat of fine and imprisonment. Robert G Ingersoll
How has the church in every age, when in authority, defended itself? Always by a statute against blasphemy, against argument, against free speech. And there never was such a statute that did not stain the book that it was in and that did not certify to the savagery of the men who passed it. Robert G Ingersoll, appeal to jury in trial of C B Reynolds for Blasphemy 1887
By making a statute and by defining blasphemy, the church sought to prevent discussion – sought to prevent argument – sought to prevent a man giving his honest opinion. Certainly a tenet, a dogma, a doctrine, is safe when hedged about by a statute that prevents your speaking against it. In the silence of slavery it exists. It lives because lips are locked. It lives because men are slaves. ibid.
Blasphemy is the word that the majority hisses into the ear of the few. ibid.
Blasphemy is what an old mistake says of a newly discovered truth. Blasphemy is what a withered last year’s leaf says to a this year’s bud. Blasphemy is the bulwark of religious prejudice. ibid.
Maybe you who condemn me are in greater fear than I who am condemned. Giordano Bruno
I await your sentence with less fear than you pass it. The time will come when all will see what I see. Giordano Bruno
Is it not a species of blasphemy to call the New Testament revealed religion, when we see in it such contradictions and absurdities. Thomas Paine
One man’s blasphemy doesn’t override other people’s free-speech rights, their freedom to publish, freedom of thought. Dan Savage
Talk not to me of blasphemy, man; I’d strike the sun if it insulted me. Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Ahab
I am a lover of truth, a worshipper of freedom, a celebrant at the altar of language and purity and tolerance. That is my religion, and every day I am sorely, grossly, heinously and deeply offended, wounded, mortified and injured by a thousand different blasphemies against it. When the fundamental canons of truth, honesty, compassion and decency are hourly assaulted by fatuous bishops, pompous, illiberal and ignorant priests, politicians and prelates, sanctimonious censors, self-appointed moralists and busy-bodies, what recourse of ancient laws have I? None whatever. Nor would I ask for any. For unlike these blistering imbeciles my belief in my religion is strong and I know that lies will always fail and indecency and intolerance will always perish. Stephen Fry
Girl of sixteen
Whole life ahead of her
Slashed her wrists
Bored with life
Didn’t succeed
Thank the Lord
For small mercies
Fighting back the tears
Mother reads the note again
Sixteen candles burn in her mind
She takes the blame
It's always the same
She goes down on her knees
And prays
[Chorus x 2]
I don’t want to start
Any blasphemous rumors
But I think that God’s
Got a sick sense of humor
And when I die
I expect to find Him laughing. Depeche Mode, Blasphemous Rumours
To suggest that God specifically created a worm to torture small African children is blasphemy as far as I can see. The Archbishop of Canterbury doesn’t believe that. David Attenborough
As recently as 1922 in Britain, John William Gott was sentenced to nine months’ hard labour for blasphemy: he compared Jesus to a clown. Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion p288
The crime of blasphemy is still on the statute book in Britain, and in 2005 a Christian group tried to bring a private prosecution for blasphemy against the BBC for broadcasting Jerry Springer: The Opera. ibid.
On trial: the magazine that found itself in the dock, and the moral campaigner who put it there. Portillo’s State Secrets IX, BBC 2015
The veteran campaigner Mrs Whitehouse brought a private prosecution for the common law offence of blasphemous libel against the magazine Gay News for a poem that it published in 1976. ibid.
The trial lasted six days … The editor Denis Lemon and Gay News were found guilty, and Lemon was given a nine-month prison sentence suspended for 18 months. ibid.