Editing Blasphemy (section)

===Christianity===
{{anchor|Blasphemy in Christianity}}

====Biblical texts====
[[Christian theology]] condemns blasphemy. "[[Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain]]", one of the [[Ten Commandments]], forbids blasphemy, which Christians regard as "an affront to God's holiness".<ref name="Sherwood2021">{{cite book |last1=Sherwood |first1=Yvonne |title=Blasphemy: A Very Short Introduction |date=26 August 2021 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-251819-4 |page=50 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Bright2005">{{cite book |author1=[[Bill Bright]] |title=The Joy of Faithful Obedience |date=2005 |publisher=Cook Communications |isbn=978-0-7814-4252-7 |page=52 |language=English}}</ref> 

Leviticus 24:16 states that "anyone who blasphemes the name of Yahweh will be put to death".<ref name="Netton1996">{{cite book |last1=Netton |first1=Ian Richard |title=Text and Trauma: An East-West Primer |date=1996 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-7007-0325-8 |page=2 |language=en}}</ref> 

In [[Gospel of Mark|Mark]] [[s:Bible (World English)/Mark#3:29|3:29]], blaspheming the [[Holy Spirit in Christianity|Holy Spirit]] is spoken of as unforgivable—an [[eternal sin]].<ref name="Saunders2021">{{cite book |last1=Saunders |first1=Craig D. |title=A Mediator in Matthew: An Analysis of the Son of Man's Function in the First Gospel |date=1 March 2021 |publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers |isbn=978-1-5326-9704-3 |page=77 |language=en}}</ref>

====Church history====

In the early history of the Church, blasphemy "was considered to show active disrespect to God and to involve the use of profane cursing or mockery of his powers".<ref name="Nash2007"/>

In ''[[The Whole Duty of Man]]'', sometimes attributed to [[Richard Allestree]] or [[John Fell (bishop)|John Fell]], blasphemy is described as "speaking any evil Thing of God", and as "the highest Degree whereof is cursing him; or if we do not speak it with our Mouths, yet if we do it in our Hearts, by thinking any unworthy Thing of him, it is look'd on by God, who sees the Heart, as the vilest Dishonour."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Allestree |first1=Richard |title=The whole duty of man, laid down in a plain and familiar way |url=https://archive.org/details/wholedutyofmanla00alle |date=1658}}</ref>

* [[Thomas Aquinas]] says that "[if] we compare murder and blasphemy as regards the objects of those sins, it is clear that blasphemy, which is a sin committed directly against God, is more grave than murder, which is a sin against one's neighbor. On the other hand, if we compare them in respect of the harm wrought by them, murder is the graver sin, for murder does more harm to one's neighbor, than blasphemy does to God".<ref>Thomas Aquinas: [http://www.newadvent.org/summa/3013.htm#article3 ''Summa Theologica''] 2:2, q. 13.</ref>
* The ''[[Book of Concord]]'' calls blasphemy "the greatest sin that can be outwardly committed".<ref>[http://www.bookofconcord.org/lc-3-tencommandments.php ''The Book of Concord''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090315051445/http://bookofconcord.org/lc-3-tencommandments.php |date=15 March 2009 }} ''The Large Catechism,'' §55.</ref>
* The ''[[Baptist Confession of Faith]]'' says: "Therefore, to swear vainly or rashly by the glorious and awesome name of God…is sinful, and to be regarded with disgust and detestation. …For by rash, false, and vain oaths, the Lord is provoked and because of them this land mourns".<ref>[http://www.spurgeon.org/~phil/creeds/bcof.htm#part23 The Baptist Confession of Faith] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100407070838/http://www.spurgeon.org/~phil/creeds/bcof.htm |date= 7 April 2010 }} Ch. 23, §2–3.</ref>
* ''The [[Heidelberg Catechism]]'' answers question 100 about blasphemy by stating that "no sin is greater or provokes God's wrath more than the blaspheming of His Name".<ref>[http://www.wts.edu/resources/heidelberg.html The Heidelberg Catechism] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090613033525/http://www.wts.edu/resources/heidelberg.html |date=13 June 2009 }} Q. 100.</ref>
* The ''[[Westminster Confession of Faith|Westminster Larger Catechism]]'' explains that "The sins forbidden in the third commandment are, the abuse of it in an ignorant, vain, irreverent, profane...mentioning...by blasphemy...to profane jests, ...vain janglings, ...to charms or sinful lusts and practices".<ref>[http://www.reformed.org/documents/wlc_w_proofs/WLC_091-150.html Westminster Larger Catechism] {{Webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20120911195148/http://www.reformed.org/documents/wlc_w_proofs/WLC_091-150.html |date=11 September 2012 }} Q. 113.</ref>
* [[Jean Calvin|Calvin]] found it intolerable "when a person is accused of blasphemy, to lay the blame on the [[wikt:ebullition|ebullition]] of passion, as if God were to endure the penalty whenever we are provoked".<ref>Jean Calvin: ''[http://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom06.ii.xvii.html Harmony of the Law]'' vol. 4. Lev. 24:10.</ref>

====Catholic prayers and reparations for blasphemy====

In the Catholic Church, there are specific prayers and devotions as [[Acts of Reparation]] for blasphemy.<ref>[http://catholicism.about.com/od/prayers/qt/Reparation_HN.htm Act of Reparation for Blasphemies Uttered Against the Holy Name, Righting Wrongs Through Prayer] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080118184246/http://catholicism.about.com/od/prayers/qt/Reparation_HN.htm |date=18 January 2008 }} By Scott P. Richert, About.com</ref> For instance, [[The Golden Arrow Holy Face Devotion (Prayer)]] first introduced by Sister [[Marie of St Peter]] in 1844 is recited "''in a spirit of reparation for blasphemy''". This devotion (started by Sister Marie and then promoted by the Venerable [[Leo Dupont]]) was approved by Pope [[Leo XIII]] in 1885.<ref>Dorothy Scallan. The Holy Man of Tours. (1990) {{ISBN|0-89555-390-2}}</ref> The [[Raccolta]]book includes a number of such prayers.<ref>Joseph P. Christopher et al., 2003 ''The Raccolta'', St Athanasius Press {{ISBN|978-0-9706526-6-9}}</ref> The [[Five First Saturdays]] devotions are done with the intention in the heart of making reparation to the Blessed Mother for blasphemies against her, her name and her holy initiatives.

The [[Holy See]] has specific "Pontifical organizations" for the purpose of the reparation of blasphemy through [[Acts of Reparation to Jesus Christ]], e.g. the ''Pontifical Congregation of the [[Benedictine Sisters of the Reparation of the Holy Face]].''<ref>[https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/letters/2000/documents/hf_jp-ii_let_20001021_riparatrici_en.html Letter for 50th anniversary of the Benedictine Sisters of Reparation of the Holy Face, 2000] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080502234831/https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/letters/2000/documents/hf_jp-ii_let_20001021_riparatrici_en.html |date=2 May 2008 }} Vatican archives</ref>

====Disputation of Paris====

During the [[Middle Ages]] a series of debates on [[Judaism]] were staged by the [[Catholic Church]], including the [[Disputation of Paris]] (1240), the [[Disputation of Barcelona]] (1263), and [[Disputation of Tortosa]] (1413–14), and during those disputations, Jewish converts to Christianity, such as [[Nicholas Donin]] (in Paris) and [[Pablo Christiani]] (in Barcelona) claimed the Talmud contained insulting references to Jesus.<ref>Carroll, James, Constantine's sword: the church and the Jews : a history, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2002</ref><ref>Seidman, Naomi, Faithful renderings: Jewish-Christian difference and the politics of translation, University of Chicago Press, 2006 p. 137</ref><ref>Cohn-Sherbok, Dan, Judaism and other faiths, Palgrave Macmillan, 1994, p. 48</ref>

The [[Disputation of Paris]], also known as the Trial of the Talmud, took place in 1240 at the court of the reigning king of France, [[Louis IX of France|Louis IX]] (St. Louis). It followed the work of [[Nicholas Donin]], a Jewish convert to [[Christianity]], who translated the [[Talmud]] and pressed 35 charges against it to [[Pope Gregory IX]] by quoting a series of alleged blasphemous passages about [[Jesus]], [[Mary (mother of Jesus)|Mary]] or Christianity.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rZGx-bS3vcgC&pg=PA137|title=Faithful Renderings: Jewish-Christian Difference and the Politics of Translation|first=Naomi|last=Seidman|date=2010|publisher=University of Chicago Press|via=Google Books|pages=136–138|isbn=978-0-226-74507-7 }}</ref> Four [[rabbis]] defended the Talmud against Donin's accusations. A commission of Christian theologians condemned the Talmud to be burned and on 17 June 1244, twenty-four carriage loads of Jewish religious manuscripts were [[Book burning|set on fire]] in the streets of Paris.<ref>{{cite book|title=The history of the Talmud, from the time of its formation, about 200 B.C.|first=Michael Levi|last=Rodkinson|pages= 66–75|year= 1918|publisher=Talmud Society}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Judaism on Trial: Jewish-Christian Disputations in the Middle Ages|url=https://archive.org/details/judaismontrialje00macc|url-access=registration|first=Hyam |last=Maccoby|year= 1982|publisher=Associated University Presses|isbn=978-0-8386-3053-2}}</ref> The translation of the Talmud from [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] to non-Jewish languages stripped Jewish discourse from its covering, something that was resented by Jews as a profound violation.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=rZGx-bS3vcgC&dq=disputation+of+paris&pg=PA137 Naomi Seidman, ''Faithful Renderings: Jewish-Christian Difference and the Politics of Translation'', pp. 136–138]</ref>

Between 1239 and 1775, the Roman Catholic Church at various times either forced the censoring of parts of the Talmud that it considered theologically problematic or the destruction of copies of the Talmud.<ref name="expunged">{{cite book |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=bunHURgi7FcC&q=talmud+censorship&pg=PA110| title = Encyclopedia of Censorship |author=Jonathon Green |author2=Nicholas J. Karolides|publisher = Infobase Publishing| page = 110 |year = 2009| isbn = 978-1-4381-1001-1| access-date= 13 February 2014}}</ref> During the inquisition, sects deemed heretical such as the [[Waldensians]] were also charged with blasphemy.<ref name="Napier 2017 p. 60">{{cite book | last=Napier | first=G. | title=Maleficium: Witchcraft and Witch Hunting in the West | publisher=Amberley Publishing | year=2017 | isbn=978-1-4456-6511-5 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H2AuDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT60 | access-date=2023-05-09 | page=60}}</ref>