Blasphemy Day

Today (30th September) is apparently Blasphemy Day in the USA and Canada.

It is described as

a holiday in which individuals and groups are encouraged to openly express their criticism of, or even disdain for, religion.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blasphemy_Day

I've never heard of it before. Is it something that is well-known in the States?

So what do you think about the creation of a holiday specifically for badmouthing religion?

Is calling it 'Blasphemy Day' rather than something like 'Freedom of Anti-Religious Speech Day' an attempt to be purposefully provocative?

It would seem that it is actually conceived as a celebration of blasphème, given that in most countries of the developed world freedom of speech, anti-religious or otherwise, is already a 'right'.

Dedicating a 'day' to it seems a bit absurd, but taking into account all of the other "whatever-days" there are on the calendar, one just shrugs "why not?"

Never heard of it in the states, but I don't need a special day to blaspheme as I do it daily.

Heheh

Alexandre Orion wrote: Dedicating a 'day' to it seems a bit absurd, but taking into account all of the other "whatever-days" there are on the calendar, one just shrugs "why not?"

Why have any celebratory days?

Being able to celebrate free speech, especially against all religion, is a massive achievement of society

Some countries it is punishable by death...

Don't take this free speech lightly...

Did you know that commiting blasphemy in Ireland if punishable by up to 25,000 Euros...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blasphemy_law_in_the_Republic_of_Ireland

That was introduced in 2010!

Alexandre Orion wrote: Dedicating a 'day' to it seems a bit absurd, but taking into account all of the other "whatever-days" there are on the calendar, one just shrugs "why not?"

Agreed.

V-Tog wrote: Today (30th September) is apparently Blasphemy Day in the USA and Canada.

I've never heard of it before. Is it something that is well-known in the States?

I've never heard of it before now, either.

V-Tog wrote: So what do you think about the creation of a holiday specifically for badmouthing religion?

I'm not sure you can be truly spiritual without a healthy dose of irreverence... It exists in the same vein as being able to laugh at yourself and being able to relax.

V-Tog wrote: Is calling it 'Blasphemy Day' rather than something like 'Freedom of Anti-Religious Speech Day' an attempt to be purposefully provocative?

Probably. Plus it's just plain shorter.

FraterDavid wrote: I'm not sure you can be truly spiritual without a healthy dose of irreverence... It exists in the same vein as being able to laugh at yourself and being able to relax.

I agree. I've mentioned before somewhere that I'll happily laugh along at stereotypes of my religions. As long as they're not intended to be malicious. Same applies to criticism...nothing should be above criticism, religion included. But criticism should be fair and err on the side of being constructive, and I'm not going to take much notice of criticism that is intended as a malicious attack.

Which is why I was wondering whether anyone else knew anything about it. Anyone can offer fair criticism of religion any time they like, they don't need a holiday to be created to encourage them to do that. It just almost sounds like this Blasphemy Day is a day where malicious remarks are permitted. Of course, Wikipedia isn't completely reliable, but it was interesting to note that the description that I quoted said that the day was not just for offering criticism but also for expressing disdain...'disdain' being a word that is kind of the malicious equivalent of 'dislike'.

V-Tog wrote: Anyone can offer fair criticism of religion any time they like, they don't need a holiday to be created to encourage them to do that. It just almost sounds like this Blasphemy Day is a day where malicious remarks are permitted. Of course, Wikipedia isn't completely reliable, but it was interesting to note that the description that I quoted said that the day was not just for offering criticism but also for expressing disdain...'disdain' being a word that is kind of the malicious equivalent of 'dislike'.

Eh, people are going to do what they're going to do. There would be no desire to have such a holiday if religions didn't give people good reason to want to blaspheme against them in the first place, in disdain or otherwise.

The principles of Rhythm and Causation are operative everywhere. This too shall pass. But while it's here, it is here because it cannot be any other way, or else it would be some other way. Being bothered by it will only lend it psychological power that will contribute toward its perpetuation by those seeking to be rebellious.

I hope you're having a good weekend.

I had a brief moderator error there with your last post FraterDavid (still getting used to the buttons, pressed edit instead of quote :blush: )...hopefully it's back to how it was. My apologies.

FraterDavid wrote: Eh, people are going to do what they're going to do. There would be no desire to have such a holiday if religions didn't give people good reason to want to blaspheme against them in the first place, in disdain or otherwise.

A 'good reason' is an entirely subjective concept...

FraterDavid wrote: The principles of Rhythm and Causation are operative everywhere. This too shall pass. But while it's here, it is here because it cannot be any other way, or else it would be some other way. Being bothered by it will only lend it psychological power that will contribute toward its perpetuation by those seeking to be rebellious.

I hope you're having a good weekend.

I'm not particularly bothered by it, I just thought that as TOTJO is a Church and Jediism is a religion, it would be interesting to see how others viewed it. If I had to choose whether I thought it was an appropriate holiday I would probably say no...but then I suspect that it's another of those things that is affected by our culture. I couldn't see the UK sanctioning a Blasphemy Day, or certainly not one with that name. Going back to one of the questions I originally asked, calling a holiday 'Blasphemy Day' would almost certainly be seen as dangerously provocative over here. But it doesn't bother me as such, I'm just genuinely quite interested having never heard anything about it before.

But so far the consensus seems to be that no-one else has ever heard of it either :laugh:

http://www.dailydot.com/news/egypt-muhammad-arrest-facebook/

Yet another Egyptian has been arrested for anti-Islam activity on Facebook.


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