Treason Against God: A History of the Offense of Blasphemy
Lawler, Philip F.
TREASON AGAINST GOD: A HISTORY OF THE OFFENSE OF BLASPHEMY Leonard W. Levy / Schocken Books / $24.95 Philip F. Lawler I s Christianity a threat to the First Amendment? In this...
...But Levy's argument is too polemical to be truly scholarly...
...and, if I have judged aright the vaporous policies averred by the Democrats, even at their mid-term conference, they now stand for nothing plus tax increases...
...To begin with, I urge my DemoTHE AMERICAN SPt'CTATOR SEPTEMBER 1982 3o...
...from the point of view of civic order, society must prevent some expressions of belief...
...Nonetheless, he himself treats the two offenses as identical when it serves his expository purpose...
...Does "Heretics blaspheme against God by anyone care...
...Thus, in describing the development of early Church doctrine, he mentions: "Still another step, however, had to be taken to elevate the Christian religion to such sacrosanctity that criticism of it could be thought of as blasphemy...
...But Levy almost implies that the persecutions were planned: that Christianity was set up largely in order to make persecution possible...
...Blasphemy," he points out, "is a litmus test of the standards a society feels it must enforce to preserve its unity, its peace, its morality, and above all its salvation...
...Whereas religious leaders can (and, thank God, now do) plead for freedom of conscience out of respect for the dignity of the individual and the need for free acts of worship, the secular advocate can see his argument unravel if the defendant he supports is in error...
...EDITORIAL (continued from page 6) to everybody--promises to save the cities, promises to take care of the sick, the old, the universities...
...Is that why the early Church sought to glorify the religion ? In exhaustive, scholarly detail, Levy recounts the heresy and blasphemy trials of history, concentrating especially on Christian recurrences...
...The secular argument has no response to that possibility...
...In this idiosyncratic history, Leonard Levy seems to be implying that it is...
...If they do not, I predict they will lose, and the humanist in me rebels at the thought of my Democratic friends being again denied their rightful place at the public trough...
...In the pivotal case--the trial of Jesus--Levy not only shucks off the Gospel versions of that event, but raises the bizarre interpretation that perhaps Jesus and Barabbas were one and the same man...
...Levy is similarly subjective in selecting the cases he wants to explore...
...First, when revealed religion is concerned, how does society judge competing claims to truth...
...What if, in a word, Bruno was wrong...
...George Fox, the Quaker founder, was prosecuted (rightly, Levy implies) for disrupting the religious ceremonies of competing denominations...
...Not surprisingly, Levy espouses the cause of Giordano Bruno, who "found all denominations mean and narrow . . . . His business was to get at the truth of the cosmos...
...Philip F. Lawler is Director of Studies at the Heritage Foundation...
...By 1980 we had promised ourselves almost to the point of national bankruptcy...
...Is that blasphemy...
...The offense of blasphemy, Levy argues, was very narrowly construed under ancient Judaic laws, so that an offender could be found guilty only under the most strictly defined circumstances...
...But what if that truth is accessible only through faith--as indeed Christianity claims...
...But the birth of Christendom brought a new definition of the crime, so that heresy and blasphemy trials became both common and gruesome...
...Today a reviving Tip O'Neill believes Mr...
...he selects his facts heavy-handedly, and neglects to mention opposing opinions...
...Now really...
...So he has the best of both worlds: He criticizes Christians incessantly for failing to distinguish between the two sins, and yet he cites all prosecutions--for either offense-as evidence that blasphemy was suppressed repeatedly...
...following a false faith...
...But Levy, who by trade is a constitutional scholar, is presumably more interested in the second sort of question...
...Fair enough...
...The Democrats are going to have to come out and enunciate a substantial policy alternative to Reaganomics besides a tax increase, which, truth to tell, is not as popular with taxpayers as the Democrats seem to think...
...Merely He thinks the American people are going to a-eturn to his politics of fairy godmotherism this fall...
...The book teems with interesting anecdotes (such as how John Calvin became so incensed with Michaet Servetus that he turned him over to their mutual enemies in the Inquisition), and gory depictions of torture and execution...
...Are there any limits to the extent to which unbelievers can revile religion ? A case in point: In his execrable Mass, Leonard Bernstein used the most sacred of all Catholic rites as an instrument to ridicule orthodox CathAs Thomas Aquinas explained, olic beliefs...
...Would such prosecution be possible in America today...
...And second, to what extent does the public order require the protection of religious beliefs ? On the first question, Levy adheres strictly to the claims of the secular order, as exemplified today by the First Amendment...
...Thus I have scrutinized recent Democratic policies and come up with a list guaranteed to set men's hearts aflame...
...White spoke too soon...
...Surely the history of religious persecution under ostensibly Christian regimes" is a great scandal against the faith...
...Well, I respectfully counsel caution...
...Levy rejects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . that argument implicitly, without ever explaining where it is internally inconsistent...
...F o r all its weaknesses, and despite its dry academic tone, this book does raise interesting questions of two sorts...
...It is always difficult to beat something with nothing...
...Until the Reformation, Christian authorities regarded heresy and blasphemy as inextricably linked...
...But if Revelation is true, are its claims not prior...
Vol. 15 • September 1982 • No. 9
