Happy Blasphemy Day

[Trevorum 24]

pack,

I believe that Horizon may have answered your question. Blasphemy is exclusively with regard to sacred things; heresy is in regard to established beliefs, sacred or secular.

[CalicoPenn 729]

Dog is a myth!

[packsaddle 753]

I'll reword it to be more inclusive, "The reason not to blaspheme is the same reason we don't shout ethnic slurs at passing minority Americans on the street."

I disagree with this equivalence. One of those actions is directed toward an idea. The other is directed at a person or persons. Blasphemy can be in the eye of the beholder and as I understand it, the charge of blasphemy is sufficiently unclear that it can be applied to speech that might not qualify as blasphemy in the view of others of that same faith, and might not even have been intentional on the part of the speaker.

[Merlyn_LeRoy 72]

And that's kind of the point (or A point) of Blasphemy Day, packsaddle; it should be possible to discuss religious ideas on the same basis as any other ideas, without laws that give "special rights" to religious ideas to be free from criticism or even outright loathing.

 

"That piece of halibut was good enough for Jehovah"

[Beavah 205]

I disagree with this equivalence.

 

Yah, just like the folks who shout ethnic slurs disagree when yeh call them out. Folks always come up with rationalizations and justifications.

 

B

[SMT224 10]

Ok... how about a real-world example:

 

By choice, our Troop does not sell popcorn, nor will we ever have anything to do with OA.

 

Are we heretics? Or Blasphemers?

[GernBlansten 10]

smt224,

Popcorn? Heresy.

OA? Hmmmm, borderline.

 

However, say something not favorable of Woodbadge and you've committed blasphemy.

 

It has to do with whether something is held sacred or not.

[John-in-KC 311]

SMT224,

 

You're Federals...

[SMT224 10]

...Federals??

[packsaddle 753]

That was probably a typo. He probably meant, 'ferals' or possibly 'fedoras'. Anyway, if they can't at least make a badge out of metal (aluminum would suffice, brass better) I'm not interested.

 

I guess my job, in some sense, is to encourage students to heresy when it comes to ideas...to give them the tools and encouragement to question everything. Blasphemy, I suppose, would be to openly suggest that our mascot was the bastard child of the opposing football team or something like that. Maybe I still don't 'get' it. Ideas don't have mass and they can't be carried in a bucket, nor do they have feelings. They can be attacked and no one is injured as a result. And if they are wrong or mistaken ideas, then those ideas NEED to be attacked for the good of society. I just can't understand why bodily injury should be meted out to someone as a result. Satan is still a myth, purely imaginary. If someone cuts my tongue out as a result, at least I'll be able to do a really good Monica Lewinsky impersonation.

 

Edited part: Dgogone tpyos.(This message has been edited by packsaddle)

[gwd-scouter 11]

Oh, my dear Packsaddle. You're obviously just another of the liberal elite nut job college professors ruining the minds of our youth on campuses across the nation. Shame on you for suggesting that students open their minds.

[SMT224 10]

Sacred cows make the best hamburger!

[SSScout 1615]

Efete nattering nabobs...

[evmori 11]

And that's kind of the point (or A point) of Blasphemy Day, packsaddle; it should be possible to discuss religious ideas on the same basis as any other ideas, without laws that give "special rights" to religious ideas to be free from criticism or even outright loathing.

 

And what laws would those be, Merlyn?

 

I'll take my sacred cow medium, please!

[Merlyn_LeRoy 72]

The US doesn't have any because of the first amendment, but as I cited at the start of this thread, Ireland has a blasphemy law with a 25,000 Euro fine, Pakistan has the death penalty, and there are Muslim groups lobbying the UN to make "defamation of religions" a crime (the UN passed a non-binding resolution a year ago).