Blasphemy yet again

I agree wholeheartedly with Perry de Havilland:

Abolish every last one of the ludicrous blasphemy laws. Right now.

This shouldn’t come as a surprise, I have stated my views on these matters before (see for instance this post – in Danish). However, I don’t think of this as “a little unfinished business”, or “a little final clean up work” that needs to be done. I think laws concerning religious matters might become some of the most important of all during the next decades. They will grow in importance, there’ll be more of them, not less, and I find it unlikely that we’ll be able to repeal any of them. I’m not sure Perry think of it as a “small matter” either, as a matter of fact I’m quite sure he does not, but the point is worth pondering. As it is, it would be very hard to abolish these laws now, much harder than it would have been to do it, say, a decade ago. But it is necessary to try now, for it will only get harder over time.

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“Spruce Bringsteen” comment is incidentally worth quoting too:

Why should I care? Believers can “blaspheme” against me all they like and tell me I’m going to hell. Shit, I’ve already been to New Jersey so I doubt its going to be any worse than that.

I couldn’t care less. If I eat pork or piss on a picture of Mohammed, that’s my business. End of story.

Does that make me “disrespectful”? You’re damn right it does. Deal with it.

The point is banal, but it is a point I think we are in general much too hesitant to put forth: We shouldn’t be afraid to be disrespectful of that which does not deserve our respect. Not even in the holy name of tolerance. Respect is something you earn, not something you can just demand and expect to get without giving anything in return. To be ‘respectful’ or ‘tolerant’ is not necessarily something to be proud of.