Leviticus 24: 16 tells the reader that the blasphemer is to be put to death; Luke 12: 10 says that blaspheming against the Holy Spirit is "unforgivable", and Mark 3:29 says blasphemy is an "eternal sin".
Blasphemy laws violate civil liberties and freedom of speech. People, must be able to exchange ideas in public, in the press, in courts of law, otherwise there is no freedom and no democracy.
If you believe that everything is in the hands of Allah and that whatever happens to you, helplessly, is His Will, well that is your affair, but don’t force your beliefs on others. Of course, it works the other way round too – – the West insidiously undermines the social and religious beliefs of other people, often without even being aware of it, in the frantic search for profit and control. Both sides bear a proportion of blame and both sides invoke their religions to prove their superiority.
Epicureans have never killed anyone because they disagreed about ataraxia, or reducing fear, or the theory of atoms. The major religions, however, using the blasphemy laws have caused the deaths on untold numbers of people. Today the Moslems threaten death because of alleged blasphemy by creators of cartoons in Denmark or the writer of novels ( Salman Rushdie).
Epicurus was an intelligent man. He knew that for the mass of ordinary people religion, although irrational, was quite harmless. If you wanted to pray to a spirit in the forest go ahead. So what? Where he would strongly object was where harmless superstition meets desire for control and an unshakable conviction that you are right and everyone who disagrees with you is wrong. This is a mental affliction and should be treated in hospital. Instead we have allowed these extremists, Christian, Moslem, Hindu, too much latitude and too much free speech. They should be locked up. There has to be a limit to free speech. Freedom is not license.
From J. Dean:
One man’s freedom of speech is another man’s license.