Blasphemy - what is it? Blasphemy over nature and man

Blasphemy, it is sacrilege, is characteristic both for the ecclesiastical and for the mundane life of the past and our generation. Although its meaning differs somewhat in these two cases, one remains constant: it is a negative phenomenon, contrary to the laws of morality.

Blasphemy - what is it? Etymology and history of the emergence of the term

In the classical sense of the word sacrilege is an outrage against a sacred object or person. It also means harm, humiliation of honor, dignity or memory of something. It can be manifested in the form of disrespect for sacred persons, places and things. When the crime is verbal, it is called blasphemy, and when physical, it is often called desecration. In a freer sense, any misconduct against religious postulates will be blasphemy.

The very word "blasphemy" comes from the Latin sacer (sacred), and legere (read). Often as its synonym use the word "sacrilege". Its history dates back to Roman times, when barbarians plundered sacred temples and graves. By the time of Cicero, sacrilege took on a broader meaning, including verbal crimes against religion and degrading the dignity of religious objects.

In most ancient religions there is a concept similar to sacrilege: there it is often regarded as a kind of taboo. The basic idea is that sacred objects should not be perceived in the same way as others.

Blasphemy in Christianity

With the advent of Christianity as the official religion of the Roman state, Emperor Theodosius introduced sacrilege in an even more expansive sense, in the form of heresy, division and crimes against the emperor, including tax evasion. In the Middle Ages, the concept of "sacrilege" again presupposes physical actions directed against sacred objects, and this forms the basis of all subsequent Catholic teachings on this issue.

Most modern nations have abolished laws against blasphemy out of respect for freedom of expression, except when injuries to people or property are caused. One of the brightest episodes in this regard is the following: in the United States, the US Supreme Court in the cinematographic case of Bertin against Wilson, because of the sensational film "Miracle" (1952), abolished the statute of sacrilege.

Despite their decriminalization, blasphemous acts are still sometimes viewed with strong disapproval from the public, including even people who are not adherents of offended religion, especially when these acts are perceived as expressions of hatred towards a particular sect or creed.

Personal sacrilege

In the event that the rights of the servants of God are violated, we are accustomed to hearing the word "blasphemy". What is sacrilege over the servant of the church, as not an outrage not only over his worldview, but also over the person?

Sacrilege means a disrespectful attitude to the priest, harm to him or desecration that degrades his honor. This blasphemy can be committed in three main ways:

1. Raising a hand on a clergyman or religious figure.

2. Violation of the existing church immunity. Priests for a long time have the right to be exempt from the jurisdiction of the common tribunals. The meaning, therefore, is that anyone who, despite this, applies to a civil court, is otherwise declared guilty of blasphemy and excommunicated from the church otherwise than by canons.

3. Any action against a vow or chastity is already a sin.

Non-religious blasphemy, or Why do people want to fight?

"War is one of the greatest blasphemies" - it's back in the 19th century, the famous Russian poet Alexander Pushkin said. He understood this even then: after the Napoleonic invasion the country lost a lot of soldiers and peaceful people, although in comparison with the events of the Great Patriotic War it was only a prelude. Military actions are terrible not only in terms of millions of deaths of innocent people, young people, full of life and energy of people. They also take the most important thing in psychological terms: happiness, faith, love, hope and tranquility, but instill fear, horror and fear of tomorrow.

Even today, in a developed pluralistic world, war is taking place on all continents in dozens of countries: Egypt, Israel, Ukraine, Iran ... And this is an incomplete list of states in which armed conflicts are taking place. What makes people fight among themselves, destroy not only natural wealth, but also someone's lives? Often it is politics, religion or mineral deposits. Obviously, only one thing: people are dying and go into the nonexistence of the city, and the war in this world is eternal.

War - blasphemy over nature, or How to protect the world around us from destruction?

Probably, the least of all during military operations a person thinks about what a huge negative impact he has on the environment. These are billions of cut trees, trampled meadows and bloodied, polluted rivers, these are tons of garbage, unsanitary conditions, disrespect for nature, disregard for endangered species of plants and animals. This is a real blasphemy. What is one or more felled trees or a clogged pond in comparison with how many human lives are lost and never returns?

However, this is temporary, after all, after a year or even a decade, comes the realization that the forest has gradually died out, and new people who do not see war want to breathe fresh air, collect mushrooms, bathe in a clean river. But war is a terrible force that does not honor the rules of etiquette, and even sometimes under its terrible hand the most amazing monuments of nature die. Therefore, many world organizations (for example, UNESCO and many others) establish special programs for the preservation of monuments of culture and nature in the war zone.

War - blasphemy over man

There is no telling how many deaths this uninvited phenomenon brings. This was clearly shown to us by the Second World War: millions of dead from virtually all countries of the world, as many wounded and hundreds of thousands of missing persons. They wrote poems, poems, stories and even multivolume novels about them, but nobody could bring back loved ones. In all its manifestations, blasphemy is seen. What is human life during the war? A grain of sand in a vast desert, unprotected and lonely, subject to a violent storm and frequent storms.