"I blaspheme everyday", said an atheist friend in response to my explanation of what blasphemy day is. Which got me to thinking, why do we have blasphemy day? For my answer, I need to start off by making a comparison to faith.
Many devout theists worship everyday, yet they go out of their way on a few special occasions to truly displace their faith. Think Easter or Ramadan, just to name two commonly known events.
Now many may cringe at the use of faith to illustrate a day that is viewed as inherently anti-faith. However, like a certain "religious" holiday in the West that need not be named, blasphemy day can have a secular edge to it. In this case, secular can include the involvement of theists willing to stand up for what, I feel, is blasphemy day's true purpose, free speech. While blasphemy day is, for the most part, a day in which non-believers take time to mock the more absurd aspects of faith. It can also be viewed as a day to stand up for free speech in general. An idea that you should stand up for regardless of whether or not you believe that you are drinking the blood of the son who is actually his father sent down to Earth to become a zombie that oddly does not eat brains. Or that a cartoon of some man who wrote a book that reads like it was written by a schizophrenic in a cave is a reason to kill.
Did you find those last two sentences offensive? If yes, good. I've achieved my goal in writing them. This is what free speech (blasphemy day) is all about. You can disagree with what I have said, you can even be offended. You cannot, however, under any circumstance work to deny me or others the right to say such things. In turn, we shall allow you to do the same.
Happy Blasphemy Day 2010.
No comments:
Post a Comment