It’s Blasphemy Day


I suppose you could all celebrate Blasphemy Day, but it’s not such a big deal for me. As far as I’m concerned, every day is Blasphemy Day.


All right, Rebecca Watson does a good job of getting into the spirit of Blasphemy Day.

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I’ll try to do my part. I’m out here in Cleveland tonight (“Hellooooo CLEVELAND!”) to talk to some humanists, and looking over my speech, I just realized it is pretty damned blasphemous. I sort of took it for granted, so I just noticed. Let’s hope I’m not arrested — Ohio doesn’t have one of those laws, does it?

Comments

  1. Gnumann says

    It might be just me, but unless it’s served in an appropriate moment, blasphemy is just plain ol’ boring.

    Impaling crackers when the catlikkers just got their panties in a twist: Fun and effective.

    Institutional blasphemy: zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…..

    But I’ll pay lip service:
    Siddharta Gautama was a real extremist!

    Happy now?

  2. Randomfactor says

    I suppose the ad at right for Scientology’s “Freedom” (Newspeak lives) magazine is an attempt by the gods of advertising to blaspheme against Pharyngula…

  3. says

    You can do what I did to prove that I mean it about nothing should be protected from negative speech.

    Here’s what I posted on Facebook:

    Happy Blasphemy Day! To show you that I mean it: FUCK YOU CARL SAGAN!

    Not even my own heroes are sacred. How about yours?

  4. esch says

    Glad to see my birthday is so distinguished. I guess being a biology graduate student has its perks!!

  5. Greta Christina says

    As far as I’m concerned, every day is Blasphemy Day.

    Is that like the thing parents say when smart-aleck kids ask why there’s a Mother’s Day and a Father’s Day, but no Kid’s Day? “Every day is Kid’s Day”?

    But for the record: Fuck God in all sixty of his non-existent assholes. And I’ll pass on the swear Ingrid and I made up: Jesus Fictional Christ.

  6. abadidea says

    Blasphemy, eh?

    I grew up in New England and I don’t like clam chowder! Or care about the Red Sox!

    I seriously think that would get a more emotional reaction from New England Christians than “I deny the Holy Spirit.”

  7. Gregory Greenwood says

    I know it is an oft repeated saying, but blasphemy is the only truly victimless crime…

    As for blasphemy day? Well, I agree with PZ that every day is blasphemy day for us baby-eating atheists – after all we ‘deny god’ on a pretty regular basis – but having a day dedicated to blasphemy does serve the purpose of annoying the fundies (always fun) and reminding them that the rest of the world is not required to show fawning obeisance to their delusions.

    It is sort of like the atheist community saying; ‘We’re here. We’re godless. Get over it.’

  8. Trevor E says

    Clones was better than Empire.
    They were right to cancel Firefly.

    /call it reality-based blasphemy

  9. Dick the Damned says

    The Christian’s Jehovah, the Almighty God,
    is a capricious and cantankerous clod;
    and, so far as I can tell,
    the Christian often is as well.
    Confused by dogma, the poor old fogey
    can’t fathom the nature of the Bible Bogey.

    Christians claim their god, in its Empyrean lair,
    to be omniscient, omnipotent, benevolent and fair,
    but, with the problem of theodicy,
    their dogma is Christian idiocy.
    For homophobia, misogyny, and genocide too,
    that old Bible Bogey is the god for you.

    The Jew’s Yahweh, that wrathful old jerk,
    set Jews strict rules on when to work,
    how to dress, and what to sup or sip,
    and giving baby boys the snip.
    Myths of Bronze Age, goat-herding nomads,
    have them, metaphorically, by the gonads.

    The Moslem’s Allah, a fierce great djinn,
    demands under ‘Islam’, literally, ‘Submission’.
    Apostasy is treated just like a crime;
    they’ll threaten to kill you, to keep you in line,
    and if you dare draw Mohammad in a comic cartoon,
    there’ll be riots and killings from here to Khartoum.

    Hindu, Sikh, Jain, and Buddhist,
    Zoroastrian, Baha’i, Mormon, and Scientologist,
    Confucianist, Shintoist, and Taoist too,
    Spiritualist, Wiccan, and the New Ager into woo.
    Yea, verily, those of each and every religion,
    are mired in the miasma of superstition.

    So, why should yours be the one true faith,
    in the magic of a phantasmagorical wraith?
    Belief, without evidence, is just plain crazy,
    ignorant, stupid, or thoughtlessly lazy.
    Life derives no purpose, at a theistic god’s direction;
    when evolution happens, it’s due to Natural Selection.

  10. mark d says

    See all the faithful in their
    Rows: they’re on their knees
    And they’re mumbling.
    And here’s your friendly Catholic
    Priest: he wants the boys
    For some fumbling.

    No sex until you’re married;
    Don’t divorce; and don’t
    Ever masturbate.
    Step out of line, you go to
    Hell: the god of love’s
    Really full of hate.

    And the TV evangelist
    Says: ‘Pay, oh, pay, oh… pay oh, pay, oh…’

    Talk like a Christian….

  11. mark d says

    They want to educate your kid:
    A chance to get
    Right inside his head.
    They say there’s evidence within
    Their magic book
    But there’s not a shred.

    They want a second coming
    Twenty centuries;
    Hasn’t happened yet.
    Meanwhile, they count the billions
    Used ‘to help the poor’;
    Do you wanna bet?

    And the priest in the silly dress
    Says: ‘Gay, no, gay, no… gay, no, gay, no…’

    Talk like a Christian…

  12. mark d says

    Those bishops love the House of
    Lords: there’s 26
    Voting in the place.
    Fly British Airways and you
    get a crucifix
    Dangled in your face

    Need an abortion and they
    Say ‘it’s all a sin
    In the sight of God’.
    Then when the kid is born, they’ve
    Lost all interest
    In the little sod.

    No-one who thinks it’s all just
    Superstition can
    Run for President
    They can’t see why the ‘Ten commandments’
    Don’t belong
    In the government.

    Try and teach evolution: it’s
    ‘No way, no way, no … way, no way, oh’

    Talk like a Christian.

    Talk like a Christian…

  13. D-Dave says

    Is that like the thing parents say when smart-aleck kids ask why there’s a Mother’s Day and a Father’s Day, but no Kid’s Day? “Every day is Kid’s Day”?

    I think of it more along the lines of my saying that Feb. 14th is the only day of the calendar year that my Lady has a 0% chance of spontaneously receiving flowers. We don’t need marketers to remind us to do romantic things together! We try to carry that through to some of the other ‘common sense’ days as well, such as remembering to do nice things for our parents throughout the year and not just on the magic weekends.

  14. Dick the Damned says

    Brownian, this interests me, because on my visits to Canada, I disseminate the poem i posted above, leaving it in churches, on notice boards, etc. So I looked up Wikipedia, which says,
    Blasphemous libel was originally an offence under the common law of England. It is an offence under the common law of Northern Ireland. It is a statutory offence in Canada and New Zealand. It has been abolished in England and Wales.
    It consists of the publication of material which exposes the Christian religion to scurrility, vilification, ridicule and contempt, and the material must have the tendency to shock and outrage the feelings of Christians. It is a form of criminal libel.
    (The Crown last prosecuted a charge of blasphemous libel in R. v. Rahard [1936] 3 D.L.R. 230 (Court of Sessions of the Peace, Quebec, 1935).
    Because blasphemy appears to be an obsolete crime in Canada, Canadians complain instead of hate speech. The Criminal Code of Canada prohibits hate speech that targets an “identifiable group”, which includes a religious group. Canada’s provinces and territories have human rights commissions or tribunals which can award compensation in matters of hate speech.

    From the National Secular Society Newsline, I read today, “Yet even these results pale in comparison with an Ipsos-Mori poll of 1,129 adults in Canada revealed that only 53% of respondents expressed a belief in God, as opposed to 90% six years ago. Thirty-three percent who identified themselves as Catholic and 28% of those who go to church weekly also said they were atheists. Forty-seven percent said religion did more harm than good.”

    I guess it’ll be safe for me to return. Anyway, right now i’m jet-lagged, so to bed.

  15. 'Tis Himself, OM says

    Fuck God in all sixty of his non-existent assholes.

    I’m reminded of the cartoon with the first panel showing two guys on an elephant and someone else saying, “Look at the two assholes on that elephant.” The next panel shows the two guys lifting up the elephant’s tail and looking carefully underneath it.

  16. IndyM, pikčiurna says

    I might eat meat tonight, if I’m in the mood (former Catholic here).

    My doofus trainer asked me what religion I was today, and I said, “I’m nothing–I’m an atheist.” I don’t think he knows what that means, but he thought it meant something along the lines of “scientologist.” So he kept razzing me about it to my other gym-mates, saying, “Yo, Indy is a scientologist!” Now that’s blasphemy.

  17. JohnnieCanuck says

    Horse-feathers. I remember being fascinated when my Boy Scout leader used that expression. I’d never heard it before, and seldom since.

    More to the topic, I’ve always preferred… vi.

  18. M Groesbeck says

    Biology reduces to chemistry.
    Chemistry reduces to physics.
    Physics reduces to mathematics.
    Mathematics reduces to analytic philosophy.
    Analytic philosophy focuses on the manipulation of formal sign systems, and so reduces to semiotics.
    So critical theory is the only pure science!

    (Science-geek blasphemy; I’m in applied physics.)

  19. ChasCPeterson says

    blasphemy is the only truly victimless crime

    USAcentric reply:
    a) it’s not a crime, not here, not yet. The right to blaspheme is a precious one indeed.
    b) on the other hand, thousands of people are serving hard time for equally victimless crimes that are crimes, here.

  20. ichthyic says

    Apple products are all fluff and overpriced!

    PZ’s beard is a glue-on!

    Obama really is worse than Perry!

  21. laania says

    Someone pulled out in front of my bus yesterday and I yelled “JESUS CHRIST!!!” but then, so did the other four people on the bus. Love ya, blasphemous NZ!

  22. cag says

    You know how the 200 kilo guy is often called Tiny? Now we know why they call the imaginary mother of jesus “Virgin”.

    Mother Theresa would have been a worthwhile, rather than vile, person if she had handed out condoms instead of platitudes.

  23. Marie the Bookwyrm says

    Regarding Pharyngula Meany Time–I like commenting in the future. It makes me feel all cool and science-fictiony. :)

  24. Horse-Pheathers says

    JohnnyCanuck @33

    Actually, I much prefer vi myself, but, you know…..blasphemy day and all.

  25. Xios the Fifth says

    Jesus, Vishnu, Mohammed and Buddha;
    Yahweh, Eros, Geb and Mahavira.
    All are fables, deceptive and fake,
    A poor story each of these characters makes.
    The Pope is a fraud, Hubbard has only a scam,
    Superstition is just a damned sham.

    No matter your god, messiah or book,
    You’d be much better if you went to look.
    Look through the history, the sciences and maths,
    Making new discoveries, finding new paths!
    Oh what you could see, oh the things you could do,
    If only you didn’t care about some saint’s stupid shoe.

    (/Takes a shot at the rhyming game.)

  26. nmmng says

    The way Rebecca Watson dealt with Stef McGraw, and with Lawrence Krauss a few years ago, was pretty shitty.

    You want blasphemy? You can’t handle blasphemy.

  27. John Morales says

    Blasphemy: not kow-towing to imaginary magical beings.

    (My very existence as an atheist is a blasphemy!)

  28. Jett Perrobone says

    How’s this for blasphemy?

    “Justin Bieber is better than the Beatles!!!”

    Man, I feel so dirty saying that! Seriously!

  29. CompulsoryAccount7746 says

    To hold back the bloodthirsty Israelites, Goliath sacrificed himself three times in the hebrew bible, and again in the Qur’an.
    And he stayed dead… probably.
    Suck it Jesus. Praise be to the mighty giant!

  30. Sam Salerno says

    I’ll just put in the famous brother Sam Atheist evangelist quote here “GODDAMN”

  31. Hazuki says

    For Blasphemy Day I decided to show how nearly all Christians blaspheme by pointing out that most of them are Sodomites as per Ezekiel 16:49

    “Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy.
    –Ezekiel 16:49 (NIV)”

    I know, I know, the NIV, gag me with a concordance. But it gets the message across well enough. Nothing at all about t3h butsecks in there, except that we’re all getting rammed up the ass without lube by the REAL Sodomites.

  32. daylightisabadthing says

    Blasphemy in the Abrehamic sense is very much illegal and risky here but I did manage a rather cowardly mild cursing of Odin over the mic.

  33. Lotharloo says

    I’m very disappointed that there is little or no talk about the Christian pastor who is being threatened by murder in Iran. His crime is apostasy and blasphemy and even though often the Iranian government does not execute people who get the attention of the international community, this one might be different.

    It was very depressing for me to listen to RW because she is describing the situation very similar to one that exists in my country. Before they seized the power, the clerics, they advertised tolerance, democracy, and they swore they would uphold the will of the people. Once they seized power, they claimed their authority comes from God and that it is duty of the people to recognize God’s authority embodied in the supreme leader. With them came the blasphemy laws and the strict crack down on people.

    You don’t have to dig through your archives to find examples of religious intolerance and the inhuman consequences of blasphemy laws because one such example is being played out right now.

  34. Naked Bunny with a Whip says

    That whole “no pictures of Muhammad” thing started because the guy was never seen out of his fursuit.

  35. says

    Here is my favourite type of blasphemy, the minced oath:

    (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minced_oath).

    From the wikipedia article:

    * goodness, golly, gosh, or gad instead of God
    * gee, geez, geeze, or jeez instead of Jesus
    * crikey or cripes instead of Christ

    Perhaps ‘bloody’ is a corruption of ‘by your lady’. ‘Zounds’- less credibly – is sometimes held to be a reference to Jesus’ wounds. And so on.

    All-powerful and all-knowing gods seem all-too-easily fooled. I prefer less ambiguity so although I can’t remember a day when I didn’t blaspheme, I say this for blasphemy day:

    HOLY COCKSUCKING CHRIST.

  36. vicarofartonearth says

    A Blasphemy Day to the tune of Olivia Newton John’s Little Star of Bethlehem.

    Little star of Blasphemy
    Perfect as a pearl
    Waiting for our eyes to roll
    And our minds unfurl
    How I finding you will cast
    Your slight upon the world

    Think on
    bane of creeps
    bane of dopes
    Oh help us perceive
    Those who wait with hungry minds
    trying to be fair
    Those whose science abound in facts
    The wonder everywhere
    Show them that we demand their cry
    show them that we can

    Think on
    Bain of creaps
    Bain of dopes
    Oh help us not believe
    From the west
    To the east
    Think with us
    We shall be released

  37. StevoR says

    That’s one hell of a great quote that Rebecca Watson gives in her clip there. Love it! :-)

    As for the religious extremists, the Jihadists, the Crusaders, the hypocritical judgemental “Moralists” whackjobs all those that like to scream “Blasphemy!” at opinions they disagree with – this one’s :

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OK4fJhbRL1g

    for you!

  38. StevoR says

    @The Rat King : 30 September 2011 at 8:14 pm

    Jesus was BROWN! That oughta get everyone in the American South screaming.

    Actually Jesus was Jewish – a Rabbi no less. ;-)

    Which should piss off the anti-Semites everywhere.

    Mind you as everyone who saw Dogma (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dogma_(film) ) knows, Jesus and his written outta the Barble brother Rufus were really African-Judean.