What's wrong with Blasphemy?

[sahra-t]

There's a set of videos here by British Comedian Stewart Lee. Subtitled "What's wrong with Blasphemy?" he begins by talking about objections to Jerry Springer: The Opera, which he co-wrote, but in the following videos extends to general laws about religious hatred, criticism, etc.

I put this in debates because many may disagree with him. What do you think?

 

[Random]

I wish I'd seen Jerry Springer: The Opera now, it looks good.

Art is art and I don't agree with censorship of any kind in general, but did the comedian expect Christians to laugh @ a portrayal of Jesus as a "sexual deviant in a nappy"? Obviously, he considers it part of his artistic license to be deliberately offensive to them. That's fine, but it then becomes rather hypocritcal of him to make a video about freedom and tolerance of conflicting views, I mean, why bother? He must have known it would upset some people and just didn't give a s**t.

I'm not a Christian per se and I can laugh about things like this if its in genuine good humour and with a fair-play sense of fun, but he deserves about as much respect as the protesters with the guitars, and about as much notice...which is to say, not much @ all.

 

[PureX]

I wish I'd seen Jerry Springer: The Opera now, it looks good.

Art is art and I don't agree with censorship of any kind in general, but did the comedian expect Christians to laugh @ a portrayal of Jesus as a "sexual deviant in a nappy"? Obviously, he considers it part of his artistic license to be deliberately offensive to them. That's fine, but it then becomes rather hypocritical of him to make a video about freedom and tolerance of conflicting views, I mean, why bother? He must have known it would upset some people and just didn't give a s**t.

I'm not a Christian per se and I can laugh about things like this if its in genuine good humor and with a fair-play sense of fun, but he deserves about as much respect as the protesters with the guitars, and about as much notice...which is to say, not much @ all.

The only thing that bothers me about this sort of thing is that some people use legitimate artistic license just to be outrageously offensive for the sake of mindless spectacle, and people unfortunately confuse this kind of pointless offensiveness with legitimate artistic license. The result is that they tend to dismiss legitimate artist expression as mindless offense, when it happens to offend them, even when it's not mindless. Artistic expression is extremely important to the health of any society of human beings, as it provides a powerful method of self-realization for people, and sometimes that self-realization can be an unpleasant or offensive experience, though positive and necessary. "Artists" who are merely offensive for the sake of being offensive give the rest of us too handy an excuse to dismiss the work of legitimate artists who may need to be offensive and unpleasant in their artistic expressions for the sake of truthfulness.

 

[lilithu]

What Godlike and PureX said.

Ah... now I understand stemann's name change to Mr. sarah-t. Were you sarah-t before? I'm a little slow sometimes. CONGRATS!!

 

[retrorich]

What's wrong with Blasphemy?

Nothing. It's one of my favorite pastimes.

 

[!Fluffy!]

What's wrong with blasphemy?

I guess you could view it in terms of consequences.

For an unbeliever to "blaspheme" or disrespect a god or belief system s/he doesn't believe in, well what could be more natural than mocking or expressing disgust or anger over an opposing view? Other than the fact it's the height of rudeness, that is.

For a believer to commit blasphemy, well it depends upon the religion doesn't it. Christians who swear or curse using God's name for example commit blasphemy routinely. Not to say God is happy about it or that there aren't consequences spritually, but it happens, and it's forgivable. The God whose name is "I Am" is very concerned about his name and rep and wrote a commandment specifically demanding respect for Him and HIs name. There are degrees of blasphemy; to bow down to another god is a very bad nasty thing to do, idolatry is verboten because it is the ultimate disloyal act (like adultery in marriage) and betrays God's trust.

But as to other gods or religions it varies. For example if a Muslim renounces/mocks/disrespects Allah, Muhammad, Qur'an, Islam, the official sentence is death here on earth followed by eternal torture and torment. As to why this is so, you'd have to consult a Muslim about that.

 

[michel]

As far as I am concerned, there's an "Off switch". I can't say that jerry Springer particularly impresses me, and he can say what he likes about God, but I don't particularly want to hear it.

 

[gnostic]

As far as I am concerned, there's an "Off switch". I can't say that jerry Springer particularly impresses me, and he can say what he likes about God, but I don't particularly want to hear it.

Nor do I. I actually don't want to hear ANYTHING Jerry and those he invite have to say.

 

[lilithu]

Nor do I. I actually don't want to hear ANYTHING Jerry and those he invite have to say.

The few times that I have seen the Jerry Springer Show (is it still on the air?) I was fascinated. He would outright demean his guests, question their morals and motivations, basically say to their faces the things that the rest of America was thinking. He'd do this to his audience too. And instead of being insulted, this seemed only to encourage people to act even meaner to each other and to be even more devoted to Springer himself. Fascinating.

How did Jerry Springer come up in a thread on blasphemy?

 

[spacemonkey]

I'd vote for Springer to be mayor of my town.

 

[jamaesi]

But as to other gods or religions it varies. For example if a Muslim renounces/mocks/disrespects Allah, Muhammad, Qur'an, Islam, the official sentence is death here on earth followed by eternal torture and torment. As to why this is so, you'd have to consult a Muslim about that.

There is no death sentence for apostasy in Islam according to the Qur'an.

 

[Random]

There is no death sentence for apostasy in Islam according to the Qur'an.

There is in Shi'a Law though, and in the legal systems of Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan. Converts to another religion have to escape their native lands on pain of death.

 

[Smoke]

Who was it who said all great ideas start out as blasphemies?

Many think that Jesus was a blasphemer by the standards of his time and place, and there's no doubt that Muhammad was. When you prohibit blasphemy, you prevent religion from gaining any new insights. Not that I think there's anything profound or insightful about Jesus in a diaper, but bad ideas are part of the price you pay for making room for the good ones.

 

[jamaesi]

There is in Shi'a Law though, and in the legal systems of Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan. Converts to another religion have to escape their native lands on pain of death.

By Shi'a do you mean Shari'ah and/or the Hadith?

Also, the legal systems of many Middle Eastern have as much to do with Islam as snow does with hot summer day.

 

[Random]

By Shi'a do you mean Shari'ah and/or the Hadith?

Also, the legal systems of many Middle Eastern have as much to do with Islam as snow does with hot summer day.

Very true. I think I mean Shari'ah, could be wrong.