What are your views on Blasphemy? How much should it be limited?
In my opinion, Blasphemy must be 100% allowed in private, but in public, I feel like it’s not ok. We’d be using the same methods of hate to spread atheism just like religion uses hate to spread their ideology. There are no differences between us and them then.
What’s your opinion?
In Canada we are protected from “hate speech” (which is subjective).
Blasphemy is a term used under theocracies and high-controlling religious cultures or cults. Apostasy is another word for leaving a religion.
So - my view is speak about whatever you want. Speak 
however you choose to express yourself (artistic, profanity, protest, writing, etc) ABOUT how you view/opine about, in this instance - religion.
There is no “blasphemy” (the act or offense of speaking sacrilegiously about God or sacred things; profane talk). EVIDENCE the existence of god or sacred things.
Blasphemy is not only “subjective” IT IS imaginary (you’re making fun of my imaginary friend 
)
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Blasphemy is an imaginary and a fairty tale point of view and only applies to Monotheistic and Polytheistic religions whose followers worship Sky Fathers and don’t care about objective evidence for the claims made in those so called “holy books”.
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Are we? IMO rational thought and evidence was the most powerful tool available to atheists. Religion relies on fear and plays to the ego.
And why does religion enjoy any special status concerning criticism? If the practitioner of a religion is offended, that is their problem. I belong to various social groups, and if someone stated that one of my passion sucks, that is my problem. I don’t get my undies in a knot and holler “I’m triggered, make the bad man go away”.
Mankind has made slow but steady progress in how society treats others. That is being done by advances in the sciences and communications. Religion resists those changes. The moment we stop criticizing religion is the day we fall backwards into a more cruel and backward world.
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This is going to be a fun one. I haven’t eaven read the post yet and I can tell you that there is nothing called blasphemy except in the eyes of the rfeligious. Blasphemy is a little child crying to mommy that he/she is being picked on. Unfortunately, in this case, the little mommy is the State and we all have some fucking ignorant parents.
Blasphemy is 100% okay in public. Threats of violence and insults to instigate violence are not okay. It’s one thing to challenge an idea and another to engage in a personal attack. I have heard streat preachers tell women that they dress like a whore. That is a personal attack IMO. The preachers should be cieted. Now, if the preacher blindly asserts, “Women today dress like whores.” That is an opionon and free speech. Not directed at any individual and not direct target. (The preacher just called his wife, mother and daughter a person who dresses like a whore. It’s a very ignorant opinion.) A direct insult with a target clearly identified is provockative and directed at getting a reaction. This is where the line is drawn. Stupid ideas need to be called out.
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You are of course WRONG. Atheist don’t generally tolerate ignorance among their masses. At least we don’t on this site. I suggest you look at a recent interaction between myself, some other atheists on the site and an Atheist poster who called himself Andy. This was just last week. Atheists in general, don’t tolerate utter and complete ignorance.
Let’s add to this the standard reply: Atheism is not a belief system and it makes no assertions. It is a response to religious claims and not a position about reality. Atheism is the “Null Hypothesis.” It suggests there is no connection between God and existence until that connection can be demonstrated. Atheism is the default position.
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My wife has a shirt with a nun on the front who has an inverted cross on her forehead. On the back of the shirt it says, “Sorry I missed church today. I was busy practicing witchcraft and learning how to be a lesbian.” She wears it out in public now and then, and she has actually gotten quite a few laughing compliments for it. She has a few other similar shirts, and I even have a couple that I sometimes wear in public just for shits and giggles. One of mine has “Sons of Odin” and “Valhalla” with a pic of Odin framed between them like a biker logo. (I have some Norse ancestry.) I’ve gotten a few compliments on that one.
Thing is, I prefer to maintain a low profile out in public. I don’t want to be noticed. I want to “blend” and not be remembered. I prefer to be courteous and polite. I will even be helpful if I see somebody who needs assistance. That’s just my nature. And I don’t care if there are folks who wear their Christian/Jesus/God shirts and jewelry and such and jibber-jabber with each other about their church and stuff. Sure, I may roll my eyes and get a bit of a chuckle out of some of the stuff I see/hear, but otherwise it doesn’t bother me in the slightest. Why? Because they have a right to express themselves like that. Which, in turn, gives me and my wife the SAME RIGHT should we choose to exercise it. And, as others have already mentioned, blasphemy is nothing but a word used to describe an offense toward an imaginary god/entity. It is NOT an offense against any person. And I do not keep my beliefs private because I’m concerned about what others might say to me. I keep them to myself because, 1. It’s none of their damn business what I believe (especially if I don’t know them); 2. They are forced to evaluate me by what I present as a person, not by what I believe; and 3. I prefer to be low key out in public. But - hey - that’s just me.
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I want to add that I am strongly opposed to book burning 
Any book.
So when someone makes some anti-religious statement by burning a bible or quran… it harkens to ignorance and control.
When someone kills someone else over a drawing 
(geeee can you guess) THAT IS NOT BLASPHEMY. It is murderous cultist extremist rage 
- HOW dare you draw a picture of my mythical man!!!
Blasphemy is bullshit
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Even the Bible? I’ve lit a few on fire myself.
I see. But as we all know, we gotta “respect” the beliefs of the majority or we’d be in serious trouble
Well, it’s just that Religion has a VERY important part in theists’ lives. I personally think that it’s not ok to disrespect their beliefs without any context (blasphemy). Because that’s the weapon of religion. It’s more logical to spread atheism through knowledge and not copy whatever religion does. For example - The Sexy Kali thing brought us nothing except making some hindus angry. It brought us nothing but hate. I feel that blasphemy spoils the idea of Atheism
Blasphemy is not criticizing Religion… it’s simply bashing it without any context. That’s exactly what one religion does to hate another. Yes we do use EVIDENCE, but not in Blasphemy. Using more logical means instead of being a bully makes us way better than religion. We need to criticize religion in a right way.
Understandable. I’ll try to take blasphemy less offensive now
Some claims of blasphemy appear to be nothing more than deflections from justifiable examinations of unsupported supernatural explanations of observable natural processes. Beyond that, it is a handy excuse to shift, from being put under the spotlight to provide rational justifications of beliefs, to being “offended” by honest questions, descriptions and explanations of said beliefs. This said, I am from a generation that had respect for others beaten into us.(often literally). To use an argument to demean, belittle, insult, or disparage other people’s beliefs is unnecessary. The exception being for those arrogant religious assholes that need to be bitch-slapped.(so to speak)
It’s not an important part in MY life and I don’t respect it.
I suffered bullshit Christian beliefs when my parents indoctrinated and forced that onto me. It caused me to have depression and suicidal thoughts. All religion does is cause problems.
I don’t respect the beliefs of Theists. They don’t respect anyone else’s beliefs or lack there of.
Many people have died in the name of religion. It doesn’t matter what “weapon” the religious used. They’re still fucking everyone over.
Religion is bullshit period. “Blasphemy” is an imaginary term that is used by the religious to control the religious. It has no meaning to an Atheist.
You’re missing the point. Religion like Islam and Christianity are all about control. By caring what other religious people think. You’re allowing that particular religion to have power over you.
I have no idea why you’re talking like we’re a united religion. BUT we’re not. Atheism is not a religion. Atheism is the disbelief in the existence of ALL deities and the rejection of religious and superstitious belief. Atheism is different per person.
The Hindus and the other religions out there that hate on Atheists are going to do it anyway whether they have reasons or not and their reasons are bullshit because they worship false and imaginary deities. I’ll make fun of them all I like.
That’s pretty hypocritical for us to mute and censor our views and disbeliefs when religions like Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism teaches their followers to hate & control what people “think”.
I’ll never allow a religion like Christianity to control how I “think” ever again.
For an Atheist you talk an awful lot like a Theist. No it does not spoil the idea of Atheism. Monotheistic religions like Christianity have already villainized Atheism. There are verses in the Christian Bible promising death to Atheists in the book of Revelations with the “end of times”. We’ve been hated for a very very long time by other religions. Islamist kill Atheists in the Middle East. Christians ostracize most of us because what their Bible reads. Hindu’s are just a bunch of fucking morons who drink cow piss. So who cares what those idiots think. Religions like Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism are going to hate and cause problems for anyone who doesn’t support their religion. It already causes problems for those who do support it because they go around bitching about everything that offends their religion and forcing those beliefs onto other people who want nothing to do with them.
Argumentum Ad Ignorantiam. No we don’t.
I don’t know what country you live in. But I live in America and we have something called the Constitution and First Amendment Rights.
A woman named Madelyn Marie O’hare fought for the rights of all Atheists and helped establish the Separation of Church and State. Not only do we have Freedom of Religion, we have Freedom From Religion. She founded the American Atheists who have fought religion tooth and nail here in the States.
Over the last fifty years, American Atheists has fought to defend the separation of religion from government with legal actions, lobbying the federal and state government, and engaging in protests and other public actions to ensure that the rights of atheists are protected .
So no. I dismiss your remark and petty notions about respecting religion. If you want to go off and get re-indoctrinated at a church somewhere and become a Christian or whatever the fuck god you want to worship, go ahead. But don’t sell that bullshit here.
I will never respect Theistic belief. After everything the Christians and Islamists have caused? No, piss on their religion. We don’t need it and they don’t need it. They’ve done enough.
By voluntarily surrendering our right to free speech (a MAJOR right) because it may hurt the feelings of some theists who are not secure with their god? By not challenging every stupid and unproveable assertion?
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Thank Ahura Mazda that statement is the most ignorant comment posted this year. Can you even imagine were we would be today if we ‘Respected’ the beliefs of the majority? What a stupid comment.
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No. It’s not. Theists would live just fine without religion. THEY JUST DON’T KNOW IT. Religion is like Erythrosine (Red Dye #3). It’s added to life to make it look rosy red and delightful. It calms our fears and makes us think the shit we are shoving into our brain is all natural, healthy and good for us. Then, once consumed, it rots our bodies away from the inside out. There is nothing important or necessary about “Red Dye #3” and nothing IMPORTANT or NECESSARY about religion. The simple fact that we have left hundreds of thousands behind, to rot in antiquity, should be evidence of their fruitless impracticality. Life needs no additives.
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I wonder if @sarthakiii is a Theist who signed on here as an Atheist telling us about Hindu etiquette who seems to believe “blasphemy” is a real thing. He’s from India and the Hindus there have a problem with this community. IMHO Most Atheists I’ve come across don’t spout off stupid shit like “blasphemy” and defend a religion and act like atheists are the problem like he’s doing. He even openly bitched about AR making fun of the Hindu deities. That’s what Theists do, spread bullshit like he’s doing and try to make their religion look all holy and good. I could be wrong but his whole argument just makes me suspicious of his position. I have never met an Atheist who defends religion. I’ve met Agnostics that are pro religion and talk just as silly as Christians do. I’ve met plenty of Theists that spout bullshit. And this guy sounds like a Theist. But It’s just a hunch.
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Been following the discussion. Your suspicions are justified. Ol’ Sarth is definitely questionable. Have wanted to cut in a couple of times with a “remark” or two, but somehow my better judgement kicked in… dammit… (fumbling for control panel… mumbling to self)… Could have sworn I turned that damn switch OFF…
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