Originally published at: http://boingboing.net/2017/03/19/what-is-the-right-punishment-f.html
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A nice warm oatmeal cookie with chocolate chips.
PUNISHING blasphemy is a grave insult against God. You are calling Him weak.
Make mine…
…hell?
People let their buttons get pushed far too easily.
Captain Obvious Moment:
In the complete absence of evidence for the existence of any deity, there should never be any kind of “punishment” for ‘blaspheming’ against someone’s religious beliefs.
I’m not generally a fan of vigilante justice, but perhaps we should just stand back and let whatever gods were blasphemed against handle it themselves.
Up until the nineteenth century, the penalty in Europe for blasphemy was a variety of particularly horrible methods of execution. Since we are so eager to spread western ideas around the world, maybe we should pass them some historical information so they can see if there are any tips to pick up from us.
Note that we have to divide between “real” blasphemy – that is, teachings that a religion feels is wrong, and groupthink blasphemy. Also between serious blasphemy (challenging your friends’ beliefs) and frivolous blasphemy (saying things just to piss off your friends). This last case is the only thing deserving punishment, and the only allowed punishment is shunning. If you’re going to be a jerk, then I don’t need to pay attention to you any more.
Struck by lightning.
Not going to heaven. Duh.
I don’t think there is anything wrong with being kicked out of your church for blaspheming. Its a group of like-minded individuals and if you blaspheme then by definition you are no longer like-minded.
As with all victimless crimes, it should not be punished at all.
However, the fact that this went out at all is more than a joke. That someone speaking on behalf of the BBC would frame a question like this shows at best a case of “being so open minded that your brain falls out”. And as I like to think the best of people, I won’t dwell on the worst implications of this.
My Grandma would look at me with a discerning eye when I said dang. I already learned not to say damn.
An imaginary fine for defamation of an imaginary being, perhaps? If Facebook had any guts in this regard that’s what they’d suggest to the Pakistani government.
You’re asking for a lot of soccer goals, football touchdowns and other sport prayers to be neglected.
Why is it, whenever I click on a BB article, I start reading and get this (for example):
"What is the right punishment for blasphemy?“
Tweet that says “What is the right punishment for blasphemy?”, Tweet @person with what you think using #hashtag"
Picture containing "Good morning I want to talk about blasphemy. What is the right punishment for blasphemy?"
small paragraph beginning "BBC Asian Network raised a few eyebrows after tweeting "What is the right punishment for blasphemy?"
Tweet containg video thumbnail containing "Good morning I want to talk about blasphemy. What is the right punishment for blasphemy?"
and the words “Good morning I want to talk about blasphemy. What is the right punishment for blasphemy?, Tweet @person with what you think using #hashtag””*
Then, paragraph beginning with "Here’s the full text
Good morning. Today, I want to talk about blasphemy. What is the right punishment for blasphemy?"
Then another paragraph where I finally get the gist of the article, or at least the reason there was something to report…
BB, instead of pretending to present us with an article, can’t you just say, “Check out this link - BBC Asian Network apologises for tweet about blasphemy”, and then include a link for comments?
Just sayin’…
WTF?! What a waste of time… Like, it’s getting ridiculous, people!
(I have learned to skip to the bottom and read the linked article, then possibly comment).
In Ireland, the “right” punishment for blasphemy is a 25,000 euro fine.
Top part’s context, then link. The transcript of the video was hand-transcribed by me from the titles as a convenience for our readers who didn’t want to watch it. First part gives you a taste, and if you want detail, click the link. If you just want to leave a comment about the post, hit comment. That’s kinda been this blog’s gig since it started: a mix of longer pieces and short “check this out” type posts about something interesting, and preferably wonderful. Like the response to the troubling BBC journalism.