Blasphemy \Blas"phe*my\, n. [L. blasphemia, Gr. ?: cf. OF.
blasphemie.]
1. An indignity offered to God in words, writing, or signs;
impiously irreverent words or signs addressed to, or used
in reference to, God; speaking evil of God; also, the act
of claiming the attributes or prerogatives of deity.
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Note: When used generally in statutes or at common law,
blasphemy is the use of irreverent words or signs in
reference to the Supreme Being in such a way as to
produce scandal or provoke violence.
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2. Figuratively, of things held in high honor: Calumny;
abuse; vilification.
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Punished for his blasphemy against learning.
--Bacon.
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Blasphemy
In the sense of speaking evil of God this word is found in Ps.
74:18; Isa. 52:5; Rom. 2:24; Rev. 13:1, 6; 16:9, 11, 21. It
denotes also any kind of calumny, or evil-speaking, or abuse (1
Kings 21:10; Acts 13:45; 18:6, etc.). Our Lord was accused of
blasphemy when he claimed to be the Son of God (Matt. 26:65;
comp. Matt. 9:3; Mark 2:7). They who deny his Messiahship
blaspheme Jesus (Luke 22:65; John 10:36).
Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost (Matt. 12:31, 32; Mark 3:28,
29; Luke 12:10) is regarded by some as a continued and obstinate
rejection of the gospel, and hence is an unpardonable sin,
simply because as long as a sinner remains in unbelief he
voluntarily excludes himself from pardon. Others regard the
expression as designating the sin of attributing to the power of
Satan those miracles which Christ performed, or generally those
works which are the result of the Spirit's agency.
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BLASPHEMY, crim. law. To attribute to God that which is contrary to his
nature, and does not belong to him, and to deny what does or it is a false
reflection uttered with a malicious, design of reviling God. Elym's Pref. to
vol. 8, St. Tr.
2. This offence has been enlarged in Pennsylvania, and perhaps most of
the states, by statutory provision. Vide Christianity; 11 Serg. & Rawle,
394. In England all blasphemies against God, the Christian religion, the
Holy Scriptures, and malicious revilings of the established church, are
punishable by indictment. 1 East, P. C. 3; 1 Russ. on Cr. 217.
3. In France, before the 25th of September, 1791, it was a blasphemy
also to speak against the holy virgin and the saints, to deny one's faith,
to speak with impiety of holy things, and to swear by things sacred. Merl.
Rep. h. t. The law relating to blasphemy in that country was totally
repealed by the code of 25th of September, 1791, and its present penal code,
art. 262, enacts, that any person who, by words or gestures, shall commit
any outrage upon objects of public worship, in the places designed or
actually employed for the performance of its rites, or shall assault or
insult the ministers of such worship in the exercise of their functions,
shall be fined from sixteen to five hundred francs, and be imprisoned for a
period not less than fifteen days nor more than six months.
4. The civil law forbad the crime of blasphemy; such, for example, as
to swear by the hair or the head of God; and it punished its violation with
death. Si enim contra homines factae blasphemiae impunitae non relinquuntur;
multo magis qui ipsum Deum Blasphemant, digni sunt supplicia sustinere. Nov.
77, ch. 1, Sec. 1.
5. In Spain it is blasphemy not only to speak against God and his
government, but to utter injuries against the Virgin Mary and the saints.
Senen Villanova Y Manes, Materia Criminal, forense, Observ. 11, cap. 3, n
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