By Donald B. Ardell – June 20, 2010
"The most important thing in this world is liberty. More
important than food or clothes -- more important than gold or houses or lands
-- more important than art or science -- more important than all religions, is
the liberty of man.
How has the church in every age, when in authority, defended
itself? Always by a statute against blasphemy, against argument, against free
speech. And there never was such a statute that did not stain the book that it
was in and that did not certify to the savagery of the men who passed it.
Never. By making a statute and by defining blasphemy, the church sought to
prevent discussion -- sought to prevent argument -- sought to prevent a man
giving his honest opinion. Certainly a tenet, a dogma, a doctrine, is safe when
hedged about by a statute that prevents your speaking against it. In the
silence of slavery it exists. It lives because lips are locked. It lives
because men are slaves...
As long as the church has the power to close the lips of
men, so long and no longer will superstition rule this world...
Blasphemy is the word that the majority hisses into the ear
of the few.
After every argument of the church has been answered, has
been refuted, then the church cries, "blasphemy!"
Blasphemy is what an old mistake says of a newly discovered
truth.
Blasphemy is what a withered last year's leaf says to a this
year's bud.
Blasphemy is the bulwark of religious prejudice.
Blasphemy is the breastplate of the heartless.
And let me say now, that the crime of blasphemy, as set out in
this statute, is impossible. No man can blaspheme a book. No man can commit
blasphemy by telling his honest thought. No man can blaspheme a God, or a Holy
Ghost, or a Son of God. The Infinite cannot be blasphemed...
What is blasphemy? I will give you a definition; I will give
you my thought upon this subject. What is real blasphemy?
To live on the unpaid labor of other men -- that is
blasphemy.
To enslave your fellow-man, to put chains upon his body --
that is blasphemy.
To enslave the minds of men, to put manacles upon the brain,
padlocks upon the lips -- that is blasphemy.
To deny what you believe to be true, to admit to be true
what you believe to be a lie -- that is blasphemy.
To strike the weak and unprotected, in order that you may
gain the applause of the ignorant and superstitious mob -- that is blasphemy.
To persecute the intelligent few, at the command of the
ignorant many -- that is blasphemy.
To forge chains, to build dungeons, for your honest fellow-men
-- that is blasphemy.
To pollute the souls of children with the dogma of eternal
pain -- that is blasphemy.
To violate your conscience -- that is blasphemy.
The jury that gives an unjust verdict, and the judge who
pronounces an unjust sentence, are blasphemers.
The man who bows to public opinion against his better
judgment and against his honest conviction, is a blasphemer...
I sincerely hope that it will never be necessary again,
under the flag of the United States -- that flag for which has been shed the
bravest and best blood of the world -- under that flag maintained by
Washington, by Jefferson, by Franklin and by Lincoln -- under that flag in
defence of which New Jersey poured out her best and bravest blood -- I hope it
will never be necessary again for a man to stand before a jury and plead for
the Liberty of Speech."
The above commentary consists of excerpts from Robert Green
Ingersoll's address to the jury in the blasphemy trial of C.B. Reynolds in
Morris Country, New Jersey on May 17, 1887. The jury in this case brought in a
verdict of guilty. The judge imposed a fine of twenty-five dollars and costs
amounting to seventy-five dollars, which Colonel Ingersoll paid, giving his
service free. Ingersoll had spoken for over six hours, without notes. His
comments are considered by many as the greatest speech on liberty ever
delivered to a jury. They are well worth reading in their entirety - I highly
recommend the exercise.
No less than 123 years have passed since Colonel Ingersoll
defended freedom in a courthouse in New Jersey. In one form or another,
blasphemy is still an issue in America and around the world.
To oppose blasphemy, start with the idea that nothing is
sacred, including religion or free expression. The fact that you find something
holy or sacrosanct in no way obligates me to feel likewise or to respect your
tender on the matter. Free expression is a right for those fortunate to live in
democracies but it is not unlimited nor does the privilege come without
responsibilities. Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, you might recall, famously
ruled that one cannot shout "fire" in a crowded theater, knowing such
a claim to be false.
A few considerations about freedom of speech and the cries
of religious fundamentalists and others seeking to have their religious dogmas,
symbols, gods and all of that off limits to challenge, parody and so on under
blasphemy laws can be identified.
Every honorable person -- liberal, libertarian,
conservative, religious believer and nonbeliever -- should endorse free
expression. It benefits everyone,
save the totalitarians who seek to imprison the mind and corrupt the hearts of
others with dogma by putting their justifications off-limits to free inquiry.
What does freedom of speech have to do with wellness?
Well, that depends on what you want (REAL) wellness to be
about? At present, I believe wellness has been undefined - at least in that
there is no widespread consensus about its nature and focus. Therefore, why not
make it represent what we want it to become? I personally insert
"REAL" before the term wellness to signal what I want it to represent
- reason, exuberance, athleticism and liberty. The latter means promoting and
living with a culture of free expression. No room for blasphemy in that.
I have long embraced and pursued a wellness lifestyle, and
freedom of expression is close to the top of my personal hierarchy of
indispensable human rights. I urge you and all wellness enthusiasts to embrace
it as well. Taking this position fosters a willingness to address three subject
areas most fear to raise or discuss - and that's a pity, since they all have so
much promise for improved understanding, as well as just plain good fun. I
refer, of course, to politics, sex and religion. I even created a wellness blog
dedicated to these these areas said to be shunned in polite society. This is
it!
So, please join me in full-out opposition to the enemies of
free expression. Start with modest acts of resistance to any claims by anyone
that opinions on any subject, including those in the three fields noted above,
can be blasphemous. To censor, let alone prosecute, anyone for anti-religious
speech is a violation of the foundation of personal freedom.
If anything is blasphemous, it is the idea of blasphemy.
Blasphemy itself, the concept of such and especially any law that protect such
a thing, is a secular moral atrocity. It is worthy only of a repressive society.
Religions make claims about the nature, meaning and purpose
of existence - and often offer preposterous alternatives to scientific
explanations of natural phenomena. It is a free person's duty to address such
claims.
It is usually helpful and always considerate to be polite,
but such must never be a requirement. Giving offense in pursuit of truth is no
vice; breaking off the chase to avoid offense is no virtue.
Any proposed restriction on the boundaries of free
expression is an attack on sovereign personal freedoms.
The proclivity of religious fundamentalists to violence is
not a valid basis to voluntarily abrogate the rights of free people. Threats
against free expression are the equivalent to offenses against human rights.
Accusations of blasphemy are to freedom what manslaughter is
to murder - a heinous offense but a step shy of the very worst form of assault.
The coddling of Islamic fascists who want blasphemy codes
adopted by the United Nations, against authors, cartoonists and speakers,
against free assembly and other speech restrictions on democratic states should
be ended. These opponents of freedom of speech want us to embrace their own
suppressive standards with supernatural blasphemy restrictions in Western
societies. We need a full-on resistance against the UN's tolerance for
intolerance.
The next time Islamists riot over a cartoon, as they did in
response to a Danish artist's caricature of their so-called prophet, we should
consider instituting the equivalent of flag day for Mohammed - cartoon flags on
every door, in every yard and on every private flagpole. Help the speech Nazis
get over reverential mindsets they believe should trump our rights. Let's honor
and protect the Salman Rushdies, Ayaan Hirsi Alis and other victims of the
blasphemy codes. Let their fatwahs be our freedom declarations. Let us protect
rights, large and small, knowing that all freedoms are large, for any
restrictions not related to public safety have the potential to grow and
spread, like a virulent pathogen - like fanaticism.
We have a right, and maybe even a wellness duty, to publicly
proclaim our insistence on unabridged free speech. We must reject blasphemy in
all forms at all times.
Be well - and free. Look on the exuberant, skeptical and bright side of life.
Don Ardell is the Well Infidel. He favors evidence over faith, reason over revelation and
meaning and purpose over spirituality. His enthusiasm for reason, exuberance and liberty are reflected in his
books (14), newsletter (537 editions of a weekly report) and lectures across
North America and a dozen other countries.