Blasphemy is a religious concept, like sin, not a moral one, like compassion, or a political one, like free speech or equality or justice. It's as well to maintain these distinctions, rather than blurring them.
Blasphemy is specifically impiety, an affront to a god or gods; it's not the same thing as violating a taboo or outraging personal feelings. There is some overlap, especially emotionally, but that's not a reason to blur the distinctions or to expand the category of blasphemy to cover every kind of extra-upsetting action or speech.
Doing that tends to be a rhetorical move on the part of people who want to impose their particular sense of the "sacred" or "holy" or inviolable on everyone else. It's a power-play, and should be regarded with a great deal of suspicion. [Guardian Cif] Read more
