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I doubt this is enforced anymore, but I think it’s time they take this unconstitutional and intolerant law off the books in Massachusetts:
Whoever wilfully:
- Blasphemes the holy name of God by denying, cursing or contumeliously reproaching God, his creation, government or final judging of the world, or
- By cursing or contumeliously reproaching Jesus Christ or the Holy Ghost, or
- By cursing or contumeliously reproaching or exposing to contempt and ridicule, the holy word of God contained in the holy scriptures
Shall be punished by imprisonment in jail for not more than one year or by a fine of not more than three hundred dollars, and may also be bound to good behavior.
Oh this is far too tempting for me. I can’t resist:
I deny, curse, and blaspheme God and his name, his creation that he didn’t create, his government that he doesn’t have, and his final judgement that will never occur.
I also curse the Holy Ghost, because I don’t really like ghosts, and the Holy Bible, a ridiculous book which contains gross immorality along with its proclaimed virtue.
And I reproach Jesus Christ for not leaving any evidence of his extraordinary claims and miracles.
Phew — good thing I don’t live in Massachusetts, or I might be in trouble for that horrific sin!
Seriously though, why should anyone be put in jail simply because they disagree with a religion that, by nature, requires “faith”? The people who wrote this would have a fit if a law like this was passed about Islam or Hinduism. Shouldn’t they of all people know you should do unto others as you want done unto yourself?
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It is precisely because they know that they have zero evidence that must use their once powerful muscle to torture dissenters, lest the elite should lose their pleasant unearned parasitic luxurious lifestyle.
Blasphemy is but another arbitrary scare tactic to keep the plebeians in their place.
But it ain’t workin’ no more!
I hope nobody reads by blog in Massachusetts- they’ll be blaspheming by proxy at least once a day!
More specifically, how can anyone force one to believe that which we don’t.
Belief is not a matter of volition. I can’t FORCE myself to believe that which is unbelievable. A willing suspension of disbelief is fine for a short time, but fiction is fiction. We cannot will ourselves to believe that which is not true.
There seems to be a billboard campaign here in Michigan to stamp out atheism. While I consider myself agnostic, I would certainly be atheist by their definition. I take the billboard as an affront. It is prejudice in it purest and most unadulterated form. Were any other group be substituted for the word Atheist in that sign it would immediately be banned.
I’ve never considered myself to be a member of an oppressed minority before. It is a scary feeling.
What slogans are they using in the billboard campaign? Can you give an example?
These redundant laws were enacted during the Founding days. Massachusetts dates back to the 1600’s!!! You know what else is on the books in Mass?
Snoring is illegal unless your windows are shut.
Wearing a goatee is illegal
Eating more than 3 sandwiches at a wake is illegal
In the city of Salem (witch trial fame) married couples are prohibited from sleeping in the nude in hotels.
and in 1659..Christmas was outlawed!! TA-DA!!
… lol.
Snoring is illegal, I’m sure my sister would agree to that XD
I’d like to see this law revived. Though there are no official fines, the cultural disdain and hostility is fully present, never mind the eternal hellfire. But now we even it out- all those who deny or curse his creation will also be punished. So every single one of you who feels eco-action is witchcraft or that we don’t have scientific proof that our water is running out or who pollutes the soil because you think God gave you dominion or you think Jesus will provide more oxygen if needed or that the earth must be scorched before Jesus can return….time to pay up for denying his creation.
If they ever tried imprisoning someone for voicing their opinion about religion, they would get slapped with the Constitution so hard their funny little Puritan buckle-hats would spin.
Man…I’m glad I don’t live near you….the lightning that strikes your head is going to be HUGE!!!
Hey, you forgot to curse Jesus! Fortunately, he’s been dead for two thousand years and is unlikely to feel slighted.
At least this silly law taught me a new word, contumeliously. I plan on working it into every conversation I have today.
Updated!
Well done! And I don’t mean that contumeliously…
Blasphemy charges and in some cases conviction have happened in the US up to the 1970s (though the later ones were overturned or never led to actual trials). The last people sentenced for it seem to have been Irving K. West (and some fellow miscreants) in Maryland who used some colorful language after being arrested for traffic offenses; this was overturned on appeal in 1969. At the same time two boys in Delaware were charged for stating Jesus was a bastard in their underground High School paper; they were jailed since they couldn’t make bail but charges were later dropped. In 1971 two Pennsylvania shopkeepers were charged for having wanted signs in their windows describing Jesus as seditious and vagrant; charges were dropped.
(Info gotten from Blasphemy: verbal offense against the sacred, from Moses to Salman Rushdie
By Leonard Williams Levy, 1995 [part of it is online in google books])
I live in Massachusetts and say the J.F.C. at least 5 times a day. Not ritually, I’m just irritable.
LOL !!! :) me too!
Brothers, Sisters
Hear the voice.
Hope is God
And God is Love.
Just saw the worst movie ever made: The End of the Line.
I highly recommend it.
What are the odds that if this law is taken off the books some will see it as an attack on Christianity? It’ll be still more evidence that we evil atheists and secularists are bent on destroying the Christian heritage of America — nevermind that our heritage of throwing people in jail for blasphemy isn’t something to be proud of.
http://massmoments.org/index.cfm?mid=364
This is the LAST time we actually enforced this law.
Theoretically it would be a great thing to blast this from the books. However its embedded in our State Constitution (the oldest functioning written Constitution on Earth btw). In our Commonwealth the constitution is very hard to amend. Ironically this difficulty in making frivolous or opinion based changes to our basic charter is what has made it hard for the fundies to end same-sex Marriage in our state.
So we’re just fine with keeping the law on the books for now, so long as we go on NOT enforcing it, just like we have for the last century-and-a-half.
I didn’t know that was a law in Mass. Yea, I would say it’s about time they thought about cleaning up some of their old laws. It reminds me of the many goat laws on the books where we’re not allowed to drive our goats through town anymore. :)
Then again, this one is even more fun. During the month of April in Massachusetts, all dogs must have their hind legs tied.
I guess that means thou shalt not covet thy neighbors pedigree canine in the month of April. lol
I’d love to hear the origins of that dog one…
I don’t know of the origins but I found it listed in Loony Laws.
Tie Dogs Hind Legs
I would say it’s not so bad. The punishment is ‘imprisonment in jail for not more than one year or by a fine of not more than three hundred dollars’. In Iran it would be death penalty, I suppose. Except maybe when you contumeliously reproach Jesus Christ.
I’m moving to Boston next year for my parent’s sabbatical! uh oh….
more like mass o two shits