I’m aware that I’m a bit late for blasphemy day, but it’s caused a bit of a stir, so I wanted to do my discovery and get it right. I’m fundamentally offended by this. Here’s why.
I get along with many people of many faiths, especially when regarding belief. I come from a predominantly Christian background, but I don’t worship in the monotheistic method. Fr most of the people I know, this isn’t a big deal. (Like language versus infidelity)
By participating in a negative manner, you’re proselytising atheism. You’re not just sitting out of the game, in regards to faith, you’re demanding that the players stop because the rules don’t matter. (The kid in the playground who always has the secret rule)
Even if they restrict free speech, rules linking faith to state are in place with important reason. We who live outside of these areas may not interconnect Church and State automatically, and it’s because of this that we cannot impose our ideas on places that do. The mental gymnastics required for me to understand why it’s ok in Ireland to outlaw blasphemy are exactly the kind that would be required for a Muslim woman from the Pakistan to understand why I shave my cheeks perhaps, or allow my wife to show her hair in public. I’m not a Pakistani Muslim woman. Why should I be able to think like one? And, by extension, why should I feel any validity in my internal decision that a burka is a bad idea?
Blasphemy Day is a perfect example of people totally getting it wrong. I don’t care if your intentions were good, it doesn’t affect my view of the indicative-distinction you’re creating by labelling this day. I totally understand where the roots of the day come from (riots caused five years ago by a caricaturised Mohammed in a newspaper cartoon). Say it with me: DOING IT WRONG.
This is the wrong approach to a good idea, the concept hat discourse and communication can exist between faiths regardless of tradition, law or other stricture. You want to do it right? Be nice to an infidel. Don’t tell him his God is a joke.
A note: The dis-inclusion of external links here is intentional. I don’t even respect the people running the blasphemy day website enough to give them my click-link traffic. And given the ease with which people can links these days, and how much I normally love encouraging the flow of traffic about the net, this is really saying something.