The word blasphemy derives from a Greek term meaning "speaking evil," but in the Christian religious tradition the word refers to verbal offenses against sacred values or beliefs. A seventeenth-century Scottish jurist epitomized blasphemy by calling it "treason against God." The concept of blasphemy has never remained fixed. It has ranged from the ancient Hebrew crime of cursing the ineffable name of God to irreverent statements that outrage the religious sensibilities of others. What is deemed blasphemous varies from society to society and may differ with time and place, but whatever is condemned as blasphemy is always regarded as an abuse of liberty and reveals what a society cannot and will not tolerate. Blasphemy constitutes a litmus test of the standards a society feels it must enforce to preserve its religious peace, order, morality, and above all, salvation. Wherever organized religion exists, blasphemy is taboo.

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