The occasional, often ill-considered thoughts of a Roman Catholic permanent deacon who is ever grateful to God for his existence. Despite the strangeness we encounter in this life, all the suffering we witness and endure, being is good, so good I am sometimes unable to contain my joy. Deo gratias!


Although I am an ordained deacon of the Catholic Church, the opinions expressed in this blog are my personal opinions. In offering these personal opinions I am not acting as a representative of the Church or any Church organization.

Thursday, October 1, 2009

International Blasphemy Day

You may well have missed it, but apparently yesterday, September 30, was International Blasphemy Day. This was a surprise to me, since I was unaware that blasphemers had claimed or even needed their own special day. After all, they seem to carry out their blasphemous activities and utter their blasphemous words on virtually every other day of the year. And why now must they claim the feast day of St. Jerome to focus the global community's attention on blasphemy? The "celebration" included art exhibits, contests, and all sorts of other fun things. It's all very strange...and sad.

The organizers at the Center for Inquiry claim that "Blasphemy Day International is a campaign seeking to establish September 30th as a day to promote free speech and stand up in a show of solidarity for the freedom to challenge, criticize, and satirize religion without fear of murder, litigation, and reprisal."

Now, I may be wrong but, at least in this country, I encounter blasphemy in many different forms every day. One need only turn on the TV. And I don't know of any Christians running around killing blasphemers on the streets of New York, San Francisco, or Norman, Oklahoma.

Here's what Catholic League president Bill Donohue had to say about Blasphemy Day:

The Center for Inquiry is factually incorrect to say that “Free speech is the foundation on which other liberties rest.” Freedom of conscience is the first liberty, and it is inextricably linked to freedom of religion. Moreover, the whole concept of inalienable rights presupposes a belief in the Creator. In other words, atheists have the right to mock religion because our Christian Founding Fathers afforded them human rights.

They are all such phonies. The stated purpose of Blasphemy Day has nothing to do with any religion but Islam, yet there is not one scheduled event insulting Muslims. We can only guess why. So who have they chosen to mock? You guessed it—Christians.

Artist Dana Ellyn will wander to Washington, D.C. to show her masterpiece, “Jesus Does His Nails,” a portrait of Jesus polishing a nail jammed into his hand. In Los Angeles, there will be a film about a gay molesting priest and another about a boy who is so angry about being sent to bed that he asks God to kill his parents. Oh, yes, American Atheists will conduct “De-Baptisms” in New Jersey.

Nice to know that even the atheists know that Christians can be counted on to react to their antics like good Christians. Which is why there will be no violence.

Click here to read another article about this Blasphemy Day. Let's hope our Congress and President don't declare it a national holiday.

"But whoever blasphemes against the holy Spirit will never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an everlasting sin." - Mk 3:29

Pray for them all.


Pax

No comments:

Post a Comment