Middling America is somewhere between the United States and 'Merica. This blog is dedicated to exploring data on the "Typical American's" views on social and political trends.
Sunday, November 17, 2013
Thou Shalt Not Take the Name of God in Vain: Blasphemy Laws
As part of my Ten Commandments series, it has been rather difficult finding laws dealing with blasphemy. Unlike a number of countries such as Sweden, Saudi Arabia, etc., the United States specifically is a secular nation with a Constitution banning the government from establishing a specific religion. Thus, it is challenging at best to have a secular law banning blasphemy. Yet, six states in 2009 had statutes mentioning blasphemy. I was able to find a New York Times article mentioning blasphemy statutes tied to a Pennsylvania court case that eventually overturned that state's blasphemy law. Moral of the story: if your government doesn't have an official deity, it's hard to blaspheme against Him/Her/It/Them.
Labels:
blasphemy,
law,
religion,
Ten Commandments
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