THE FOLLY OF FIGHTING BLASPHEMY
"All great truths begin as blasphemies."
George Bernard Shaw
Well, not quite all George. But some.

Consider Christianity. People lied on the stand at the trial of Jesus. Testimony was, as they say, inconsistent. Finally the accused was asked if he actually thought he was the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One. (Mark 14:61) He answered in the affirmative.

Utter blasphemy, of course.

That’s when the beating started. It ended on the bad Friday we call good.

So imagine my chagrin this week with the latest twist in the virulent response to those dishonorable Danish cartoons. First it was the burning of embassies and evil fried chicken franchises. Innocent lives were lost. Then came the inevitable fatwa calling for death to the drawers. After Friday prayers, Pakistani Muslim cleric Maulana Youset Qureshi offered a bounty of 500,000 rupees (about $8,400. U.S.) to anyone who kills a Danish cartoonist. Someone in his congregation upped the ante, so to speak, to one million rupees and a car (not sure if it’s new or used) to the successful murderer.

Now out of Norway comes the call to enforce anti-blasphemy laws. Could I call a time out here?

Making it a crime to offend someone’s faith could get us all killed. The problem with blasphemy law is that both crime and punishment are in the eye of the beholder. The poor pagan accused may be clueless as to what offends.

Most European countries have old blasphemy laws which are seldom used for that very reason. In Pakistan, blasphemy laws have become a tool in the hands of extremist elements to settle personal scores against members of religious minorities, particularly Christians. The laws offer only a vague definition of blasphemy, yet blasphemy carries a mandatory death sentence in some cases.

I may offend you but that doesn’t mean I hate you. I have on my desk a copy off the Internet of the crude caricature of Muhammad with the bomb-for-a-turban. Don’t worry, I’m not showing it to anyone. I’m not Islamophic, just curious.

But if I did email it to you, would I be trying to incite racial hatred?

Not.

If we ever start enforcing blasphemy laws I could bring endless charges against every parody of faith from Entertainment Weekly’s depiction of film director Morgan Spurlock ("Super Size Me") in a crucifixion posture, hamburgers in each outstretched hand, bloody ketchup trickling from his palms, to the current cover of Rolling Stone magazine depicting The Passion of (provocative pop star) Kayne West with his crown of thorns.

Over the top? Yes. Outlawed? Never.

Besides, as Shaw was trying to point out, today’s blasphemies may be tomorrow’s truths. Years after the Roman Catholic Church forced Galileo to renounce his shocking claim that Earth moved around the sun, the Vatican decided in 1992 that Galileo had it right all along.

And then there’s that whole crucifixion of Jesus thing. Successfully tried and nailed for blasphemy, he was.

Temporarily.

Contact Bob Ripley bobripley@metropolitanchurch.com
"If you have two loaves of bread, give one to the poor, sell the other, and buy hyacinths to feed your soul."
Chinese Proverb