Posted on 01/13/2015 11:12:01 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Not even Bill Donohue goes this far. You do have the right, he concedes. You should simply decline to exercise that right in the interests of social harmony.
Do Americans agree?
Fusion surveyed 1,502 Americans and asked a single question: Do Americans have the right to blaspheme religion? We got 1,105 responses, and the results were not very impressive: only 37% said yes, while 32% said no, and 31% said “I don’t know.”
Among women, the results were even worse: just 26.5% said yes, while 36% said no, and 38% said “I don’t know.”
The problem with a question like that is that it’s not clear to what extent it reflects people’s views of whether you should have the right. Taken literally, “Do Americans have the right to blaspheme?” is merely a probe of people’s civic knowledge. It could be that little more than a third understand that they do, in fact, have that right — which is embarrassing but not surprising given the state of civic education in America more broadly. The fact that nearly a third answered by saying “I don’t know” suggests that a lot of people saw this as a quiz on the state of the law, not what they think the law should be.
On the other hand, it could be that some people took it as more of a moral question than a legal one. Do you have the right, morally, to insult a fellow citizen by denigrating his God? It could also be that some understood it as asking a legal question but, not knowing the answer, substituted what they thought the law logically should be, which would give the poll more normative significance than a basic test of civics would have. I’m thinking there has to be an element of that given the size of the gender gap. Here’s the male/female split on whether Americans have the right to blaspheme:
“Yes” is easily the least popular answer among women but the most popular answer among men, with a spread of more than 20 points. There’s no reason I can think of why we’d see a split that huge if this was a straightforward test of civic knowledge. On the contrary, there are more women in school nowadays than there are men; if this was a simple matter of education, women would probably come out ahead. What’s really happening here, I think, is that women, for whatever reason, are less comfortable with blasphemy and offending religious sensitivities than men are. Look no further than yesterday’s YouGov poll on the Charlie Hebdo cartoons for evidence. I’d guess that roughly two-thirds of men and women honestly didn’t know the answer to whether blasphemy is a right and so they fell back on their own moral inclinations to take a guess. For men, that inclination is towards blasphemy. For women, it’s away.
The age split is interesting too. The group most likely to say that Americans have a right to blaspheme is young adults:
The group least likely to say so? Seniors:
If this was a basic test of civics, I would have guessed just the opposite. Seniors, who’ve had a lifetime to learn and who famously take their civic duty to vote very seriously, would know the nuts and bolts of blasphemy law whereas young adults, less educated and more apathetic (or so the stereotype goes), might not. Instead, this. That makes me wonder, again, whether normative views on blasphemy are creeping into people’s responses. Seniors, who lean conservative, might look askance at mocking religion while young adults, who lean liberal, would not.
Exit question one: How come so many Americans are unsure of their right to blaspheme? Is it basic ignorance at work, or are they taking a cue from our lousy media that some topics must be verboten lest more “excitable” religions get a little too excited? Exit question two: What explains the gender gap on blasphemy? I’m tempted to revert to stereotype here too and assume that women are simply less comfortable being “insensitive” to others, but that seems lame. It probably has more to do with the fact that women are more religious than men. Logically, if you’re a believer yourself, you’re more likely to see the virtue in discouraging blasphemy than if you aren’t.
I don’t like the way the question was asked. If it were asked in the form of “Do you have the LEGAL right” I would be willing to bet that the answers would be a lot different. As it is, it doesn’t really tell us much, apart from the fact that Americans tend to want to mind their manners on the subject.
I’m a Pastafarian. Thou shalt not speak ill of my sauce or you shall die!
I’m not impressed. I wonder if they changed the word ‘blaspheme’ to satire or criticize would the results be the same?
After all, it’s only blaspheme if you are part of that religion right? Does the pollster even recognize the fact that an atheist by its intrinsic definition is blaspheme.
As long as CNN continues to post this:
http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/01/world/gallery/controversial-art/index.html
but not a cartoon about muhammed, then i guess we have no “rights” at all.
does Donohue really think we would have “social harmony” if nobody made fun of religion??
The Church of the Subgenius.
Bob is all seeing all knowing and a palindrome. All you have are wet noodles.
The 47% has grown to be the 64%.
We’re doomed.
I can disagree with certain aspects of Catholic* doctrine and still maintain warm friendships with Catholics, even if I make those disagreements vocal. They will simply shrug it off because I do not understand it fully or we can civilly agree to disagree.
Do those same things with a Muslim, however, and you've blasphemed their religion and quite possibly put your life in peril.
* And, yes, you can substitute almost any brand of religion for "Catholic" in this statement and get the same result. All except one.
Almost seems like a stupid question, but I guess many people are rather ignorant of their first amendment rights. Of course we have a right to blaspheme any topic, religious or otherwise. But, always a but, we also have a responsibility and should be accountable to our actions. If you are not willing to put your real name on your comments, maybe you shouldn't be saying it in the first case. Further, if you say something actionable, libelous, etc., then you should be prepared to be accountable for your actions. Aside from that, in my opinion, blaspheme away.
I think most people would find this confusing simply because it’s not a priority for them. I don’t imagine there are too many people outside the offices of Charlie Hebdo who wake up every morning and think of ways to exercise this aspect of their “right to free speech.”
The infiltrating, warring, 6th century animals on the other hand do nothing BUT castigate anyone other than themselves ..... and then go and kill their own when their own aren't identical to the animals
And if we can eradicate the Guinea worm ... we can eradicate the sand slug
There are statutes that forbid the use of “Fighting Words.”
I don’t understand why this is so surprising. If you believe in God, you sure as Hell better not blaspheme Him. The question probably was poorly worded because as a factual matter, you do have a legal right to insult religion.
The NY Times called it a "classic".
That’s a good point. Even a very active Freeper isn’t going to spend a lot of time pondering his right to “blaspheme” a particular religion. It’s just not something that comes up a lot in life. Also, how many people can define “blasphemy”? I run into a lot of people who can’t even properly pronounce the word “ask”.
Imagine if somebody went and relabeled it “Muhammadland.”
Two thoughts:
Probably 75% of Americans commit blasphemy on a regular basis by taking the Lords name in vain.
If you believe in Religious Freedom you must also believe in the right to blaspheme religion. In some manner or another, practically EVERY religion contains blasphemy against all others.
What’s even more offensive is that US Taxpayers had to fund P!ss Chr***.
Can’t fund tributary works but can fund offensive works. The ACLU was MIA in attacking the government funding of religious artworks.
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