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105-465: 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". In the medieval world, those who committed blasphemy were seen as needing discipline. By the 17th century, several historically Christian countries had legislation against blasphemy . Blasphemy was proscribed speech in the U.S. until well into

210-531: A Sri Lankan author was sentenced 10 years in prison for insulting Buddhism. Blasphemy is taken harshly by Sikhs. It is called “ beadbi ” by Sikhs. In October, 2021, a Nihang Singh killed a man for beadbi of the Sarbloh Granth . In December, 2021, a man was beaten to death at the Golden Temple for committing blasphemy. Such punishments are justified with orthodox Sikhs saying, “instant justice”

315-557: A calm, decent and serious way" (in the words of Bishop Gibson ) but mockery and scoffing, they said, were appeals to sentiment, not to reason. It was a common law crime according to William Blackstone 's Commentaries on the Laws of England : Blasphemy against the Almighty is denying his being or providence, or uttering conteumelious reproaches on our Savior Christ. It is punished, at common law by fine and imprisonment, for Christianity

420-709: A car bombing at the Danish embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan in June 2008 which they said was revenge for the "insulting drawings". After the Charlie Hebdo attack in 2015 Je Suis Charlie became a rallying cry for secular, free speech advocates. The attacks took place in France where the culture of militant secularism celebrates blasphemy but permits viewpoint based restrictions and prior restraint of speech. Emmanuel Todd

525-526: A combination of their first-year grades and their competition scores. Twenty editors are selected based solely on their competition scores. The remaining twelve editors are selected on a discretionary basis. According to the law review's webpage, "Some of these discretionary slots may be used to implement the Review's affirmative action policy." The president of the Harvard Law Review is elected by

630-694: A criminal offence, which was adopted on 29 June 2007 in the "Recommendation 1805 (2007) on blasphemy, religious insults and hate speech against persons on grounds of their religion" . This Recommendation set a number of guidelines for member states of the Council of Europe in view of Articles 10 (freedom of expression) and 9 (freedom of thought, conscience and religion) of the European Convention on Human Rights . After OIC's ( Organisation of Islamic Cooperation ) campaign at UN (United Nations) seeking impose of punishment for "defamation of religions"

735-512: A god would be a completely different kind of universe from one without, and it would be a scientific difference". Carl Sagan argued that the doctrine of a Creator of the Universe was difficult to prove or disprove and that the only conceivable scientific discovery that could disprove the existence of a Creator (not necessarily a God) would be the discovery that the universe is infinitely old. Some theologians, such as Alister McGrath , argue that

840-648: A higher power or God after the experience. About a quarter of those afflicted by temporal lobe seizures experience what is described as a religious experience and may become preoccupied by thoughts of God even if they were not previously. Neuroscientist V. S. Ramachandran hypothesizes that seizures in the temporal lobe, which is closely connected to the emotional center of the brain, the limbic system , may lead to those afflicted to view even banal objects with heightened meaning. Psychologists studying feelings of awe found that participants feeling awe after watching scenes of natural wonders become more likely to believe in

945-531: A line between punishable blasphemy and protected religious speech." The common law offences of blasphemy and blasphemous libel were repealed in England & Wales the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 . In the 18th and 19th centuries, this meant that promoting atheism could be a crime and was vigorously prosecuted. The last successfully prosecuted case was Whitehouse v. Lemon (1976) where

1050-421: A means of enforcing morality. In small groups, morality can be enforced by social forces such as gossip or reputation. However, it is much harder to enforce morality using social forces in much larger groups. Rossano indicates that by including ever-watchful gods and spirits, humans discovered an effective strategy for restraining selfishness and building more cooperative groups. Johns Hopkins researchers studying

1155-516: A non-theistic religion, Buddhism leaves the existence of a supreme deity ambiguous. There are significant numbers of Buddhists who believe in God, and there are equally large numbers who deny God's existence or are unsure. Chinese religions such as Confucianism and Taoism are silent on the existence of creator gods. However, keeping with the tradition of ancestor veneration in China , adherents worship

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1260-949: A religion or other belief system, including blasphemy laws, are incompatible with the Covenant, except in the specific circumstances envisaged in article 20, paragraph 2, of the Covenant. Such prohibitions must also comply with the strict requirements of article 19, paragraph 3, as well as such articles as 2, 5, 17, 18 and 26. Thus, for instance, it would be impermissible for any such laws to discriminate in favor of or against one or certain religions or belief systems, or their adherents over another, or religious believers over non-believers. Nor would it be permissible for such prohibitions to be used to prevent or punish criticism of religious leaders or commentary on religious doctrine and tenets of faith. International Blasphemy Day , observed annually on September 30, encourages individuals and groups to openly express criticism of religion and blasphemy laws . It

1365-400: A supernatural being and to see events as the result of design, even when given randomly generated numbers. Theistic religious traditions often require worship of God and sometimes hold that the purpose of existence is to worship God. To address the issue of an all-powerful being demanding to be worshipped, it is held that God does not need or benefit from worship but that worship is for

1470-439: A writing competition held at the end of the first year except for twelve slots that are offered on a discretionary basis. The writing competition includes two components: an edit of an unpublished article and an analysis of a recent United States Supreme Court or Court of Appeals case. The writing competition submissions are graded blindly to assure anonymity. Fourteen editors (two from each 1L section) are selected based on

1575-410: Is omnipotent , omniscient, and benevolent. This belief raises questions about God's responsibility for evil and suffering in the world. Dystheism , which is related to theodicy , is a form of theism which holds that God is either not wholly good or is fully malevolent as a consequence of the problem of evil . Omnipotence (all-powerful) is an attribute often ascribed to God. The omnipotence paradox

1680-553: Is "beyond" being and is both the source of the Universe and the teleological purpose of all things. Aristotle theorized a first uncaused cause for all motion in the universe and viewed it as perfectly beautiful, immaterial, unchanging and indivisible. Aseity is the property of not depending on any cause other than itself for its existence. Avicenna held that there must be a necessarily existent guaranteed to exist by its essence—it cannot "not" exist—and that humans identify this as God. Secondary causation refers to God creating

1785-555: Is a law review published by an independent student group at Harvard Law School . According to the Journal Citation Reports , the Harvard Law Review ' s 2015 impact factor of 4.979 placed the journal first out of 143 journals in the category "Law". It also ranks first in other ranking systems of law reviews. It is published monthly from November through June, with the November issue dedicated to covering

1890-558: Is an abbreviation of Jahweh/Yahweh, and often sees usage by Jews and Christians in the interjection " Hallelujah ", meaning 'praise Jah', which is used to give God glory. In Judaism , some of the Hebrew titles of God are considered holy names . Allāh ( Arabic : الله ) is the Arabic term with no plural used by Muslims and Arabic-speaking Christians and Jews meaning 'the God', while ʾilāh ( إِلَٰه , plural `āliha آلِهَة )

1995-475: Is an extraordinary intervention by God, such as miracles . Deism holds that God exists but does not intervene in the world beyond what was necessary to create it, such as answering prayers or producing miracles. Deists sometimes attribute this to God having no interest in or not being aware of humanity. Pandeists would hold that God does not intervene because God is the Universe. Of those theists who hold that God has an interest in humanity, most hold that God

2100-575: Is as to the manner in which the doctrines are advocated and not as to the substance of the doctrines themselves. 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". Leviticus 24:16 states that "anyone who blasphemes the name of Yahweh will be put to death". In Mark 3:29 , blaspheming

2205-476: Is beginningless. Some interpretations and traditions of Buddhism can be conceived as being non-theistic . Buddhism has generally rejected the specific monotheistic view of a creator deity . The Buddha criticizes the theory of creationism in the early Buddhist texts . Also, major Indian Buddhist philosophers, such as Nagarjuna , Vasubandhu , Dharmakirti , and Buddhaghosa , consistently critiqued Creator God views put forth by Hindu thinkers. However, as

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2310-424: Is contradictory as that would entail opposing himself. Omniscience (all-knowing) is an attribute often ascribed to God. This implies that God knows how free agents will choose to act. If God does know this, either their free will might be illusory or foreknowledge does not imply predestination, and if God does not know it, God may not be omniscient. Open Theism limits God's omniscience by contending that, due to

2415-536: 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." In the Catholic Church, there are specific prayers and devotions as Acts of Reparation for blasphemy. For instance, The Golden Arrow Holy Face Devotion (Prayer) first introduced by Sister Marie of St Peter in 1844

2520-625: Is derived from the Proto-Germanic *ǥuđan. The reconstructed Proto-Indo-European form *ǵhu-tó-m was probably based on the root *ǵhau(ə)- , which meant either "to call" or "to invoke". The Germanic words for God were originally neuter , but during the process of the Christianization of the Germanic peoples from their indigenous Germanic paganism , the words became a masculine syntactic form . In English, capitalization

2625-463: Is deserving for beadbi which is the “ultimate act of crime”. Multilateral global institutes, such as the Council of Europe and UN, have rejected the imposition of "anti-blasphemy laws" (ABL) and have affirmed the freedom of speech . The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe , after deliberating on the issue of blasphemy law passed the resolution that blasphemy should not be

2730-591: Is legal in France, this event has been criticized for singling out one particular religion and being divisive . Blasphemy in Islam is impious utterance or action concerning God , Muhammad or anything considered sacred in Islam. The Quran admonishes blasphemy, but does not specify any worldly punishment for blasphemy. The hadiths , which are another source of Sharia , suggest various punishments for blasphemy, which may include death . However, it has been argued that

2835-414: Is most often framed with the example "Could God create a stone so heavy that even he could not lift it?" as God could either be unable to create that stone or lift that stone and so could not be omnipotent. This is often countered with variations of the argument that omnipotence, like any other attribute ascribed to God, only applies as far as it is noble enough to befit God and thus God cannot lie, or do what

2940-762: Is no deity except God." In Christianity, the doctrine of the Trinity describes God as one God in Father , Son ( Jesus ), and Holy Spirit . In past centuries, this fundamental mystery of the Christian faith was also summarized by the Latin formula Sancta Trinitas, Unus Deus (Holy Trinity, Unique God), reported in the Litanias Lauretanas . God in Hinduism is viewed differently by diverse strands of

3045-499: Is often believed to be forgiving. For example, a hadith states God would replace a sinless people with one who sinned but still asked repentance. Sacrifice for the sake of God is another act of devotion that includes fasting and almsgiving . Remembrance of God in daily life include mentioning interjections thanking God when feeling gratitude or phrases of adoration , such as repeating chants while performing other activities. Transtheistic religious traditions may believe in

3150-430: Is often thought of as incorporeal and independent of the material creation, while pantheism holds that God is the universe itself. God is sometimes seen as omnibenevolent , while deism holds that God is not involved with humanity apart from creation. Some traditions attach spiritual significance to maintaining some form of relationship with God, often involving acts such as worship and prayer , and see God as

3255-485: Is one of the best known traits of religion. He cites examples from Greek mythology , which is, in his opinion, more like a modern soap opera than other religious systems. Bertrand du Castel and Timothy Jurgensen demonstrate through formalization that Boyer's explanatory model matches physics' epistemology in positing not directly observable entities as intermediaries. Anthropologist Stewart Guthrie contends that people project human features onto non-human aspects of

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3360-501: Is only one deity, referred to as "God" (with uppercase g ). Comparing or equating other entities to God is viewed as idolatry in monotheism, and is often strongly condemned. Judaism is one of the oldest monotheistic traditions in the world. Islam's most fundamental concept is tawhid , meaning 'oneness' or "uniqueness'. The first pillar of Islam is an oath that forms the basis of the religion and which non-Muslims wishing to convert must recite, declaring that, "I testify that there

3465-643: Is part of the laws of the land". In 1636, the Puritan controlled Massachusetts Bay Colony made blasphemy – defined as "a cursing of God by atheism, or the like" – punishable by death. The last person hanged for blasphemy in Great Britain was Thomas Aikenhead aged 20, in Scotland in 1697. He was prosecuted for denying the veracity of the Old Testament and the legitimacy of Christ's miracles. In

3570-793: Is prohibited, except in cases where it is sanctioned by a Jewish governing authority "so that they will not blaspheme". Section 295A of the Indian Penal Code lays down the punishment for the deliberate and malicious acts, that are intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs. It is one of the Hate speech laws in India . This law prohibits blasphemy against all religions in India. This law originated due to Hindu-Muslim conflict Buddhism have no concept of blasphemy. In contrast, in West Asia ,

3675-415: Is reasonable to ask who or what created the universe, but if the answer is God, then the question has merely been deflected to that of who created God. Both authors claim, however, that it is possible to answer these questions purely within the realm of science and without invoking divine beings. A deity, or "god" (with lowercase g ), refers to a supernatural being. Monotheism is the belief that there

3780-620: 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. The Raccoltabook includes a number of such prayers. 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

3885-447: Is referred to in Islam as fitra , or "innate nature". In Confucian tradition, Confucius and Mencius promoted that the only justification for right conduct, called the Way, is what is dictated by Heaven, a more or less anthropomorphic higher power, and is implanted in humans and thus there is only one universal foundation for the Way. Harvard Law Review The Harvard Law Review

3990-472: Is taken by exclusivists, who believe they are the chosen people or have exclusive access to absolute truth, generally through revelation or encounter with the Divine, which adherents of other religions do not. Another view is religious pluralism . A pluralist typically believes that his religion is the right one, but does not deny the partial truth of other religions. The view that all theists actually worship

4095-489: Is the term used for a deity or a god in general. Muslims also use a multitude of other titles for God. In Hinduism , Brahman is often considered a monistic concept of God. God may also be given a proper name in monotheistic currents of Hinduism which emphasize the personal nature of God , with early references to his name as Krishna - Vasudeva in Bhagavata or later Vishnu and Hari . Sang Hyang Widhi Wasa

4200-587: Is the term used in Balinese Hinduism . In Chinese religion , Shangdi is conceived as the progenitor of the universe, intrinsic to it and constantly bringing order to it. Ahura Mazda is the name for God used in Zoroastrianism . "Mazda", or rather the Avestan stem-form Mazdā- , nominative Mazdå , reflects Proto-Iranian *Mazdāh (female) . It is generally taken to be the proper name of

4305-493: Is the universe and the universe is God and denies that God transcends the Universe. For pantheist philosopher Baruch Spinoza , the whole of the natural universe is made of one substance, God, or its equivalent, Nature. Pantheism is sometimes objected to as not providing any meaningful explanation of God with the German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer stating, "Pantheism is only a euphemism for atheism." Pandeism holds that God

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4410-459: Is the view that the truth values of certain claims—especially metaphysical and religious claims such as whether God , the divine or the supernatural exist—are unknown and perhaps unknowable. Theism generally holds that God exists objectively and independently of human thought and is sometimes used to refer to any belief in God or gods. Some view the existence of God as an empirical question. Richard Dawkins states that "a universe with

4515-692: Is to the Wonderful Lord." Baha , the "greatest" name for God in the Baháʼí Faith , is Arabic for "All-Glorious". Other names for God include Aten in ancient Egyptian Atenism where Aten was proclaimed to be the one "true" supreme being and creator of the universe, Chukwu in Igbo , and Hayyi Rabbi in Mandaeism . The existence of God is a subject of debate in theology , philosophy of religion and popular culture . In philosophical terms,

4620-404: Is used when the word is used as a proper noun , as well as for other names by which a god is known. Consequently, the capitalized form of god is not used for multiple gods or when used to refer to the generic idea of a deity . The English word God and its counterparts in other languages are normally used for any and all conceptions and, in spite of significant differences between religions,

4725-466: Is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator , and principal object of faith . In polytheistic belief systems, a god is "a spirit or being believed to have created, or for controlling some part of the universe or life, for which such a deity is often worshipped". Belief in the existence of at least one god is called theism . Conceptions of God vary considerably. Many notable theologians and philosophers have developed arguments for and against

4830-428: Is wise, but can say that God is not ignorant (i.e. in some way God has some properties of knowledge). Christian theologian Alister McGrath writes that one has to understand a "personal god" as an analogy. "To say that God is like a person is to affirm the divine ability and willingness to relate to others. This does not imply that God is human, or located at a specific point in the universe." Pantheism holds that God

4935-667: The Columbia Law Review , the University of Pennsylvania Law Review , and the Yale Law Journal — publishes The Bluebook , the primary guide for legal citation formats in the United States. The Harvard Law Review published its first issue on April 15, 1887, making it one of the oldest operating student-edited law reviews in the United States. The establishment of the journal was largely due to

5040-540: The Harvard Law Review stopped the publication of an article written by Rabea Eghbariah , a Palestinian student at Harvard Law. The online chairs of the Law Review had asked the Eghbariah to write an essay. The Intercept reported that the president of the Law Review , Apsara Iyer , with the support of a majority of the Law Review leadership, delayed the publication of the essay because of "safety concerns and

5145-476: The Holy Spirit is spoken of as unforgivable—an eternal sin . 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". In The Whole Duty of Man , sometimes attributed to Richard Allestree or John Fell , blasphemy is described as "speaking any evil Thing of God", and as "the highest Degree whereof

5250-605: The Middle Ages because it was considered a more serious threat to Orthodoxy , while blasphemy was mostly seen as irreverent remarks made by persons who may have been drunk or diverged from good standards of conduct in what was treated as isolated incidents of misbehavior. When iconoclasm and the fundamental understanding of the sacred became more contentious matters during the Reformation , blasphemy started to be regarded as similar to heresy. The intellectual culture of

5355-401: The anthropic principle , and so would not learn of, for example, life on other planets or of universes that did not occur because of different laws of physics . Non-theists have argued that complex processes that have natural explanations yet to be discovered are referred to the supernatural, called god of the gaps . Other theists, such as John Henry Newman who believed theistic evolution

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5460-403: The existence of God . Atheism rejects the belief in any deity. Agnosticism is the belief that the existence of God is unknown or unknowable . Some theists view knowledge concerning God as derived from faith. God is often conceived as the greatest entity in existence. God is often believed to be the cause of all things and so is seen as the creator, sustainer , and ruler of the universe. God

5565-708: The "defamation of religions" had been spearheaded by Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on behalf of the United Nations' large Muslim bloc. The campaign ended in 2011 when the proposal was withdrawn in Geneva, in the Human Rights Council because of lack of support, marking an end to the effort to establish worldwide blasphemy strictures along the lines of those in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Iran. This resolution had passed every year since 1999, in

5670-1100: The 20th century. Blasphemy laws were abolished in England and Wales in 2008, and in Ireland in 2020 . Scotland repealed its blasphemy laws in 2021. Many other countries have abolished blasphemy laws including Denmark , the Netherlands , Iceland , Norway and New Zealand . As of 2019, 40 percent of the world's countries still had blasphemy laws on the books, including 18 countries in the Middle East and North Africa , or 90% of countries in that region. Indian religions , such as Hinduism and Buddhism have no concept of blasphemy and hence prescribe no punishment. The word blasphemy came via Middle English blasfemen and Old French blasfemer and Late Latin blasphemare from Greek βλασφημέω , from βλασ, "injure" and φήμη, "utterance, talk, speech". From blasphemare also came Old French blasmer , from which

5775-541: The English word blame came. Blasphemy: 'from Gk. blasphemia "a speaking ill, impious speech, slander," from blasphemein "to speak evil of." "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 LXX ; Acts 13:45; 18:6, etc.)." Heresy received more attention than blasphemy throughout

5880-472: The Punjabi language. Vāhi (a Middle Persian borrowing) means 'wonderful', and guru ( Sanskrit : guru ) is a term denoting 'teacher'. Waheguru is also described by some as an experience of ecstasy which is beyond all description. The most common usage of the word Waheguru is in the greeting Sikhs use with each other— Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa, Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh , "Wonderful Lord's Khalsa , Victory

5985-585: 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. During the inquisition, sects deemed heretical such as the Waldensians were also charged with blasphemy. Some Christians described parts of the 2024 Summer Olympics opening ceremony as blasphemy. While blasphemy

6090-434: 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 set on fire in the streets of Paris. The translation of the Talmud from Hebrew to non-Jewish languages stripped Jewish discourse from its covering, something that was resented by Jews as a profound violation. Between 1239 and 1775,

6195-587: The Talmud contained insulting references to Jesus. 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 (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 or Christianity. Four rabbis defended

6300-598: The United Nations, with declining number of "yes" votes with each successive year. In the early 21st century, blasphemy became an issue in the United Nations (UN). The United Nations passed several resolutions which called upon the world to take action against the "defamation of religions". However, in July 2011, the UN Human Rights Committee (UNHRC) released a 52-paragraph statement which affirmed

6405-611: The United States Barack Obama (1991); its first openly gay president was Mitchell Reich (2011); its first Latino president was Andrew M. Crespo , who is now tenured as a professor at Harvard Law School. The first female African-American president, ImeIme Umana , was elected in 2017. Gannett House, a white building constructed in the Greek Revival style that was popular in New England during

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6510-604: The United States, blasphemy was recognized as proscribed speech well into the 20th century. The Constitution entailed a right to articulate views on religion, but not to commit blasphemy, with the Harvard Law Review stating, "The English common law had punished blasphemy as a crime, while excluding "disputes between learned men upon particular controverted points" from the scope of criminal blasphemy. Looking to this precedent, nineteenth-century American appellate courts consistently upheld proscriptions on blasphemy, drawing

6615-432: The argument from morality is the argument from conscience which argues for the existence of God given the existence of a conscience that informs of right and wrong, even against prevailing moral codes. Philosopher John Locke instead argued that conscience is a social construct and thus could lead to contradicting morals. Atheism is, in a broad sense, the rejection of belief in the existence of deities. Agnosticism

6720-449: The atheist J. L. Mackie agreed that the argument is valid, they disagreed with its premises. David Hume argued that there is no basis to believe in objective moral truths while biologist E. O. Wilson theorized that the feelings of morality are a by-product of natural selection in humans and would not exist independent of the mind. Philosopher Michael Lou Martin argued that a subjective account for morality can be acceptable. Similar to

6825-568: The benefit of the worshipper. Mahatma Gandhi expressed the view that God does not need his supplication and that, "Prayer is not an asking. It is a longing of the soul. It is a daily admission of one's weakness." Invoking God in prayer plays a significant role among many believers. Depending on the tradition, God can be viewed as a personal God who is only to be invoked directly while other traditions allow praying to intermediaries, such as saints , to intercede on their behalf. Prayer often also includes supplication such as asking forgiveness . God

6930-464: The birthplace of Abrahamic religions (namely Islam , Judaism , and Christianity ), there was no room for such tolerance and respect for dissent where heretics and blasphemers had to pay with their lives. Insulting Buddhism is a punishable offence in some Buddhist majority counties like Sri Lanka and Myanmar. In 2015 a man from New Zealand was sentenced to prison for depicting a picture of Buddha with headphones. Similarly, in 2020 Shakthika Sathkumara,

7035-592: The court repeated what had by then become a textbook standard for blasphemy law cases in the UK : The common law offense of blasphemy was abolished in Scotland via the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021 . It is not blasphemous to speak or publish opinions hostile to the Christian religion, or to deny the existence of God, if the publication is couched in decent and temperate language. The test to be applied

7140-652: The death penalty applies only to cases where there is treason involved that may seriously harm the Muslim community, especially during times of war. Different traditional schools of jurisprudence prescribe different punishment for blasphemy, depending on whether the blasphemer is Muslim or non-Muslim, a man or a woman. In the modern Muslim world , the laws pertaining to blasphemy vary by country , and some countries prescribe punishments consisting of fines, imprisonment, flogging , hanging , or beheading . Blasphemy laws were rarely enforced in pre-modern Islamic societies, but in

7245-460: The doctrine that salvation is eventually available for everyone. A fourth approach is syncretism , mixing different elements from different religions. An example of syncretism is the New Age movement. Fideism is the position that in certain topics, notably theology such as in reformed epistemology , faith is superior than reason in arriving at truths. Some theists argue that there is value to

7350-584: The early English Enlightenment had embraced ironic or scoffing tones in contradistinction to the idea of sacredness in revealed religion. The characterization of "scoffing" as blasphemy was defined as profaning the Scripture by irreverent "Buffoonery and Banter". From at least the 18th century on, the clergy of the Church of England justified blasphemy prosecutions by distinguishing "sober reasoning" from mockery and scoffing. Religious doctrine could be discussed "in

7455-470: The effects of the "spirit molecule" DMT , which is both an endogenous molecule in the human brain and the active molecule in the psychedelic ayahuasca , found that a large majority of respondents said DMT brought them into contact with a "conscious, intelligent, benevolent, and sacred entity", and describe interactions that oozed joy, trust, love, and kindness. More than half of those who had previously self-identified as atheists described some type of belief in

7560-434: The existence of God is not a question that can be answered using the scientific method . Agnostic Stephen Jay Gould argued that science and religion are not in conflict and proposed an approach dividing the world of philosophy into what he called " non-overlapping magisteria " (NOMA). In this view, questions of the supernatural , such as those relating to the existence and nature of God, are non - empirical and are

7665-415: The existence of deities but deny any spiritual significance to them. The term has been used to describe certain strands of Buddhism, Jainism and Stoicism . Among religions that do attach spirituality to the relationship with God disagree as how to best worship God and what is God's plan for mankind. There are different approaches to reconciling the contradictory claims of monotheistic religions. One view

7770-589: The existence of other deities. Transcendence is the aspect of God's nature that is completely independent of the material universe and its physical laws. Many supposed characteristics of God are described in human terms. Anselm thought that God did not feel emotions such as anger or love, but appeared to do so through our imperfect understanding. The incongruity of judging "being" against something that might not exist, led many medieval philosophers approach to knowledge of God through negative attributes, called Negative theology . For example, one should not say that God

7875-399: The existence of ugliness in the universe. This has also been countered by arguing that beauty has no objective reality and so the universe could be seen as ugly or that humans have made what is more beautiful than nature. The argument from morality argues for the existence of God given the assumption of the objective existence of morals . While prominent non-theistic philosophers such as

7980-539: The first woman to serve as the journal's president was Susan Estrich (1977), who later was active in Democratic Party politics and became the youngest woman to receive tenure at Harvard Law School; its first non-white ethnic minority president was Raj Marphatia (1988, Volume 101), who is now a partner at the Boston law firm of Ropes & Gray ; its first African-American president was the 44th President of

8085-532: The freedom of speech and rejected the laws banning "display of lack of respect for a religion or other belief system'. When the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten decided to publish cartoons of Muhammad , its editor-in-chief wrote an editorial that the newspaper was publishing the cartoons because Muslims had to get over their "sickly oversensitivity". Another editor looked upon it as a cultural initiation: "By making fun of people we're also including them in our society. It's not always easy for those concerned, but that

8190-645: The ground of all being, immanent in and transcendent over the whole world of reality, with immanence and transcendence being the contrapletes of personality. God has also been conceived as being incorporeal (immaterial), a personal being, the source of all moral obligation , and the "greatest conceivable existent". These attributes were all supported to varying degrees by the early Jewish, Christian and Muslim theologian philosophers, including Maimonides , Augustine of Hippo , and Al-Ghazali , respectively. Jainism has generally rejected creationism , holding that soul substances ( Jīva ) are uncreated and that time

8295-430: The laws of the Universe which then can change themselves within the framework of those laws . In addition to the initial creation, occasionalism refers to the idea that the Universe would not by default continue to exist from one instant to the next and so would need to rely on God as a sustainer . While divine providence refers to any intervention by God, it is usually used to refer to "special providence", where there

8400-524: The mid-to-late 19th century, has been home to the Harvard Law Review since the 1920s. Before moving into Gannett House, the journal resided in the Law School's Austin Hall . Since the change of criteria in the 1970s, grades are no longer the primary basis of selection for editors. Membership in the Harvard Law Review is offered to select Harvard law students based on first-year grades and performance in

8505-464: The modern era some states and radical groups have used charges of blasphemy in an effort to burnish their religious credentials and gain popular support at the expense of liberal Muslim intellectuals and religious minorities. In recent years, accusations of blasphemy against Islam have sparked international controversies and played part in incidents of mob violence and assassinations of prominent figures. The campaign for worldwide criminal penalties for

8610-460: The nature of time, God's omniscience does not mean the deity can predict the future and process theology holds that God does not have immutability , so is affected by his creation. Theologians of theistic personalism (the view held by René Descartes , Isaac Newton , Alvin Plantinga , Richard Swinburne , William Lane Craig , and most modern evangelicals ) argue that God is most generally

8715-491: The needs of humanity at different points in history and for different cultures, and as part of a scheme of progressive revelation and education of humanity. An example of a pluralist view in Christianity is supersessionism , i.e., the belief that one's religion is the fulfillment of previous religions. A third approach is relativistic inclusivism , where everybody is seen as equally right; an example being universalism :

8820-433: The origin of the universe to argue for the existence of God. The teleological argument , also called "argument from design", uses the complexity within the universe as a proof of the existence of God. It is countered that the fine tuning required for a stable universe with life on earth is illusory, as humans are only able to observe the small part of this universe that succeeded in making such observation possible, called

8925-455: The other editors. It has been a long tradition since the first issue that the works of students published in the Harvard Law Review are called "notes" and they are unsigned as part of a policy reflecting "the fact that many members of the Review besides the author make a contribution to each published piece." In 2012, Harvard Law Review had 1,722 paid subscriptions. In November 2023,

9030-698: The previous year's term of the Supreme Court of the United States . The journal also publishes the online-only Harvard Law Review Forum , a rolling journal of scholarly responses to the main journal's content. The law review is one of three honors societies at the law school, along with the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau and the Board of Student Advisors . Students who are selected for more than one of these three organizations may only join one. The Harvard Law Review Association—in conjunction with

9135-683: The price they're got to pay". Editors expressed concern that Danish comedians, artists and so on were self-censoring because they were afraid of a violent response from Muslims. The global protests that erupted in February 2006 shocked the artists who submitted cartoons. After receiving a bomb threat one cartoonist was angry that Muslims fleeing persecution in their own countries would "want the laws they have fled" to be enforced in Denmark. The editors stood their ground: "Everyone had to accept being subject to satire." Al Qaeda claimed responsibility for

9240-502: The proper domain of theology . The methods of science should then be used to answer any empirical question about the natural world, and theology should be used to answer questions about ultimate meaning and moral value. In this view, the perceived lack of any empirical footprint from the magisterium of the supernatural onto natural events makes science the sole player in the natural world. Stephen Hawking and co-author Leonard Mlodinow state in their 2010 book, The Grand Design , that it

9345-603: The punishment for blasphemy is death. In Jewish law the only form of blasphemy which is punishable by death is blaspheming the name of the Lord . Leviticus 24:16 states that "anyone who blasphemes the name of Yahweh will be put to death". The Seven Laws of Noah , which Judaism sees as applicable to all people, prohibit blasphemy. In one of the texts of the Dead Sea Scrolls , called the Damascus Document , violence against non-Jews (also called Gentiles )

9450-1049: 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 . 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

9555-497: The question of the existence of God involves the disciplines of epistemology (the nature and scope of knowledge) and ontology (study of the nature of being or existence ) and the theory of value (since some definitions of God include "perfection"). Ontological arguments refer to any argument for the existence of God that is based on a priori reasoning. Notable ontological arguments were formulated by Anselm and René Descartes . Cosmological arguments use concepts around

9660-406: The religion, with most Hindus having faith in a supreme reality ( Brahman ) who can be manifested in numerous chosen deities. Thus, the religion is sometimes characterized as Polymorphic Monotheism . Henotheism is the belief and worship of a single god at a time while accepting the validity of worshiping other deities. Monolatry is the belief in a single deity worthy of worship while accepting

9765-476: The risk in having faith and that if the arguments for God's existence were as rational as the laws of physics then there would be no risk. Such theists often argue that the heart is attracted to beauty, truth and goodness and so would be best for dictating about God, as illustrated through Blaise Pascal who said, "The heart has its reasons that reason does not know." A hadith attributes a quote to God as "I am what my slave thinks of me." Inherent intuition about God

9870-479: The same god, whether they know it or not, is especially emphasized in the Baháʼí Faith, Hinduism, and Sikhism. The Baháʼí Faith preaches that divine manifestations include great prophets and teachers of many of the major religious traditions such as Krishna, Buddha, Jesus, Zoroaster, Muhammad, Bahá'ú'lláh and also preaches the unity of all religions and focuses on these multiple epiphanies as necessary for meeting

9975-524: The source of all moral obligation . God is sometimes described without reference to gender , while others use terminology that is gender-specific. God is referred to by different names depending on the language and cultural tradition, sometimes with different titles of God used in reference to God's various attributes. The earliest written form of the Germanic word God comes from the 6th-century Christian Codex Argenteus . The English word itself

10080-519: The spirit, and like its Sanskrit cognate medhā means 'intelligence' or 'wisdom'. Both the Avestan and Sanskrit words reflect Proto-Indo-Iranian *mazdhā- , from Proto-Indo-European mn̩sdʰeh 1 , literally meaning 'placing ( dʰeh 1 ) one's mind ( *mn̩-s )', hence 'wise'. Meanwhile 101 other names are also in use. Waheguru ( Punjabi : vāhigurū ) is a term most often used in Sikhism to refer to God. It means 'Wonderful Teacher' in

10185-513: The spirits of people such as Confucius and Laozi in a similar manner to God. Some atheists have argued that a single, omniscient God who is imagined to have created the universe and is particularly attentive to the lives of humans has been imagined and embellished over generations. Pascal Boyer argues that while there is a wide array of supernatural concepts found around the world, in general, supernatural beings tend to behave much like people. The construction of gods and spirits like persons

10290-490: The support of Louis Brandeis , then a recent Harvard Law School alumnus and Boston attorney who would later go on to become a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. From the 1880s to the 1970s, editors were selected on the basis of their grades; the president of the Review was the student with the highest academic rank. The first female editor of the journal was Priscilla Holmes (1953–1955, Volumes 67–68);

10395-529: The term remains an English translation common to all. El means 'god' in Hebrew, but in Judaism and in Christianity , God is also given a personal name, the tetragrammaton YHWH, in origin possibly the name of an Edomite or Midianite deity, Yahweh . In many English translations of the Bible , when the word LORD is in all capitals, it signifies that the word represents the tetragrammaton. Jah or Yah

10500-430: The world because it makes those aspects more familiar. Sigmund Freud also suggested that god concepts are projections of one's father. Likewise, Émile Durkheim was one of the earliest to suggest that gods represent an extension of human social life to include supernatural beings. In line with this reasoning, psychologist Matt Rossano contends that when humans began living in larger groups, they may have created gods as

10605-402: Was a separate entity but then became the universe . Panentheism holds that God contains, but is not identical to, the Universe. God is often viewed as the cause of all that exists. For Pythagoreans , Monad variously referred to divinity, the first being or an indivisible origin. The philosophy of Plato and Plotinus refers to " The One ", which is the first principle of reality that

10710-474: Was acceptable, have also argued against versions of the teleological argument and held that it is limiting of God to view him having to only intervene specially in some instances rather than having complex processes designed to create order. The argument from beauty states that this universe happens to contain special beauty in it and that there would be no particular reason for this over aesthetic neutrality other than God. This has been countered by pointing to

10815-642: Was founded in 2009 by the Center for Inquiry . A student contacted the Center for Inquiry in Amherst , New York to present the idea, which CFI then supported. Ronald Lindsay, president and CEO of the Center for Inquiry, said, regarding Blasphemy Day, "[W]e think religious beliefs should be subject to examination and criticism just as political beliefs are, but we have a taboo on religion", in an interview with CNN . God In monotheistic belief systems, God

10920-538: Was very skeptical and critical of the "right to blasphemy" narrative. Skeptics thought it amounted to little more than ridicule of a marginalized group. Scholars rebutting Todd's study have found that many of the protestors were liberal, tolerant people who did not have Islamophobic or xenophobic views. For many of the Je Suis Charlie protestors the sentiment of the protest was simply: it is not ok to kill someone because they have offended you. In Leviticus 24:16

11025-595: Was withdrawn due to consistently dwindling support for their campaign, the UN Human Rights Committee (UNHRC), in July 2011, released a 52-paragraph statement which affirmed the freedom of speech and rejected the laws banning "display of lack of respect for a religion or other belief system'. UNHRC's "General Comment 34 - Paragraph 48" on the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) 1976, concerning freedoms of opinion and expression states: Prohibitions of displays of lack of respect for

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