“Whoever blasphemes the name of the Lord shall surely be put to death. All the congregation shall stone him.” - Leviticus 24:13–16, Old Testament, accepted by Jews, Muslims and Christians
The other day I shared a well researched piece about special rights for churches in Germany with a group of friends on WhatsApp. The report basically argues that Germany is officially not a secular state as there are still century old and undemocratic church laws in place and one of the leading parties (Merkel’s party) has “Christian” literally in its first letter (CDU/CSU) and has governed Germany for a total of 53 years since 1949 or 72.6% of the time. Which obviously is part of the problem. Some of my friends are religious and the first reaction I got was just one word: “Blasphemy”. It was clear from the message that it wasn’t a joke, one of my friends was genuinely upset with me. Coming from a conservative family and being married to a religion teacher might have intensified his belief. The belief in a religion that gives the concept of blasphemy its right to exist. Without religion, there’s nothing to really blaspheme. The belief in a religion that at some point in time everywhere where it infected the hearts of people made people literally kill each other because they don’t like which phantasy-man their neighbor believes in. Or how someone “blasphemed” their belief or religion. How is it possible in the year 2022, that this term is still used in any other form than pure ridicule?
79 or 40 % of all worlds countries have “anti-blasphemy” laws. They are of course not called like that in most cases, because that would give away the meddling of religion in our worldly affairs. 43 countries have an official state religion (22% of total) with an additional 40 countries who have an unofficial preferred religion (20%). Making this 83 countries that are not secular, or 44% of all countries. And the US isn’t even captured, as it is officially a secular state but at the same time around 75% of the inhabitants call themselves believers. There is not going to be a non-Christian president in the US anytime soon. No matter how qualified that person would be. Just think about that for a sec. In an officially secular country and one of the most powerful in the world.
I was born roman catholic in a small region in central west Germany. If I were born in the 7th century in the same place, then there would have been a chance that I was brought up in the Continental Germanic mythology believing in multiple gods including Thor and Odin. Just imagine that century where you had Christian communities with some families remaining who worshipped the “old gods”. Leaving religion would have meant to say no to multiple gods at once. How difficult. Instead of breaking up with one person, you are basically leaving the wedding party. And just imagine how that conversation with my friend could have gone if I believed in the norse gods. That conversation would have derailed pretty quickly into a smear-fest against multi-god religions. As monotheists, you can easier defend against logical challenges then a multi-god belief. That’s why non-believers (atheists) will take the upper hand soon, as they have nothing to defend but the truth.
We need to stop having this nonsense staying between us and preventing us from having actual strong and healthy relationships with one another. At an individual scale it’s words, on a global scale it’s hatred and death. This symptom of such a belief system is out there to watch for all of us every single day.
Blasphemy is nowadays used in a broader sense and defined as “…challenging an established order (Link)”. Not just a religious one. We should all agree: We deserve more than what we’re getting.
Let’s be more blaspheme
