Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!decvax!tektronix!orca!pogo!daveb From: daveb@pogo.UUCP Newsgroups: talk.religion.misc Subject: Re: Blasphemy still illegal in Massachesetts? Message-ID: <2801@pogo.UUCP> Date: Fri, 10-Oct-86 20:20:21 EDT Article-I.D.: pogo.2801 Posted: Fri Oct 10 20:20:21 1986 Date-Received: Sat, 11-Oct-86 04:47:12 EDT Reply-To: daveb@pogo.UUCP (Dave Butler) Distribution: na Organization: Tektronix, Inc., Beaverton, OR. Lines: 79 I've held off sending this reply for over a week, and toned it down a couple of times, but after rereading it one more time, I still feel strongly about sending it. In article <1157@cybvax0.UUCP> mrh@cybvax0.UUCP (Mike Huybensz) writes: >According to today's Boston Globe: > >"Chapter 272, Section 36, of the Massachusetts General Laws sets a fine >of $300 or 1 year in prison for 'whoever wilfully blasphemes the holy name >of god by denying, cursing, or contumeliously reproaching God, his creation, >government, or final judging of the world, or by cursing or contumeliously >reproaching Jesus Christ or the Holy Ghost, or by cursing or contumeliously >reproaching or exposing to contempt or ridicule the holy word of God >contained in the Holy scriptures.' > >If this law is indeed still in effect, then I encourage one and all to >openly violate this unconstitutional and unenforceable law until Christians >are embarrassed enough to have it repealed. Ie: everyone who is non-Christian, should openly state that they don't believe in the Christian god (that's sufficient to break the law). And then Paul M Koloc answers back in article <1157@cybvax0.UUCP>: [To be brief I'll summerize the article] Yammer, Yammer, Threat, Yammer, Yammer, Threat! I think the most representative 2 statements Paul made were: > Well, I'm not for the death penalty but I think that such fines are > not out of order for protecting the values of ethnic cultures of a > vast array in this country. and > This has been all in good fun but there is a point: "Let sleeping > dogs lie". Yap now and you'll have a pack of wolves at your throat. > Wait a few decades Mike, you've got time. or to paraphrase: I and a lot of other people like the law and the intent of the law Mike. We may not be able to stop the atheist and "others" from living around us, but at least we can punish them for vocally denying the existence of our God, and I like the idea that we can have someone arrested for saying "No, I don't believe in GOD". So keep your mouth shut Mike, or I and a bunch of friends will be all over you like white on rice. Put off your satan spawned plans for a few more decades Mike, after all, whats 30 or 40 more years without freedom of speech when compared to the greater glory of God. Remember, we'll be keeping an eye on you. Well Paul, I guess that I'm a little sensitive when someone starts using veiled threats and I react badly to them. I don't know how things are back east, but out on the west coast we get a little paranoid when someone starts making threats. Right now there are several groups on the west coast (and especially in the Northwest) that have been making and fulfilling threats. Most of these people *claim* to be "Christian". There's the "Identity" Christian group that just set four bombs in Coure de Lane,(sp?) Idaho. There's the people that have been sending bombs to Portland, Ore. abortion clinics. There's the "Identity" Christian (Nazi) group in Orriville, Ca., that executed a highschool boy, because he knew too much and didn't want to join. There's the La Rouch candidates that ran in the Oregon primaries (they all lost). In the voters pamphlet only one mentioned La Rouch, but they all claimed to be good fundamentalists and that they only wanted to put Gays in isolation for their own good. There are the people that block, grab and swear at the women that go to the abortion clinics. Are these people really Christian? No, at least not according to my Christian friends, and I'm inclined to agree with them. But these people do *claim* to be Christian and they do make threats on other peoples lives and lifestyles, and then try to fulfill those threats. So Paul, when you make threats, I have to decide whether to think of you as just a Christian who has to blow off steam, or as one of those intolerant crazies that just call themselves a Christian, and has no qualms about enforcing their craziness. If there were a lot of invisible :-)'s in your article and I missed them, then I sorry about coming down so hard. If you were serious, then please stay on the east coast, we don't need more like you (and good luck to you Mike Huybensz, with guys like that around, you're going to need it). Feeling Better For Having Written, Dave Butler Remember: Silly is a state of Mind, Stupid is a way of Life.