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Friday, August 13, 2021

Netflix and Blasphemy - By Bob Johnson

Found here. Our comments in bold.
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The author never does document the claim contained in his title. 
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Blasphemy is defined as saying or doing something that shows disrespect to God, to a religion, to a religious "holy" book, or to a "prophet" or leader of a religion. In many Muslim countries it also includes saying or doing something that offends a believer in Islam. (Ironically, a definition that perfectly fits the way the Left responds to conservative opinions.)

Prior to the European Enlightenment and the success of the American Revolution, Christian sects put on trial and executed thousands of people for blasphemy over the centuries. (We were unable to document this claim. In fact, we were unable to find a single instance of Christians executing blasphemers. We know this happened centuries ago, but there are no contemporary examples we could find. However, a quick search yielded many Christians being executed for blasphemy.

We can only conclude that the author is making his assertion to bolster his narrative. It's simply a cheap shot.)

Currently, in Islamic nations that have not been positively influenced by the ideals of the Enlightenment and the American Revolution, people are still being imprisoned and executed for blasphemy.

Today Christians in the US and in other Western nations, whose thinking is much more grounded in the ancient teachings in the Christian Bible than in the principles and ideals of the Enlightenment and the American Revolution, oppose any criticism of their "holy" Christian religion, their Christian Bible and their imagined savior Jesus. (Blasphemy is an archaic word, not used by Christians. The author does not cite a single example of this occurring. 

Rather, Christians will tend to claim disrespect and persecution. 

Why wouldn't Christians oppose the disrespect of their religion? The author himself certainly defends his own beliefs. Apparently Christians are engaging in egregious behavior by expecting people to respect their beliefs. The author never explains why.)

Because of the important advances made by the Enlightenment and American Revolution that separated religion from government, they are no longer able to put people on trial or execute them for blasphemy. (The author repeats his claim, again absent any documentation.)

Now, they must be content with petitioning and pressuring companies and organizations to prevent them from airing or distributing content that they believe is blasphemous against their Christian/superstitious beliefs. (Yes, of course. They shouldn't be able to air their grievances or make their choices based on whether or not they agree with someone. That is un-American.)

Most recently the Christians were able to get over 240,000 of the faithful to sign a petition to pressure Netflix from streaming the comedy The First Temptation of Christ. The petition states in part, "This mockery of Jesus should not be deemed as satire but an intentional attempt to attack the fundamental beliefs that uphold the Christian faith. It is anti-Christ in every sense of the word." (Waaait. Up 'til now the author has been complaining about Christians in the US and in other Western nations. But now he takes us to Brazil regarding a foreign language TV show no American is ever likely to see. 

Apparently there are no examples of American Christians claiming blasphemy.)

The First Temptation of Christ was written and produced by the Brazilian comedy group Porta dos Fundos. They are like a Brazilian version of the British comedy group Monty Python. (Monty Python caught hell for their thought-provoking and hilarious movie about a man in Judea at the time of Jesus who is often mistaken for Jesus, Life of Brian. The script was so controversial they couldn't get funding for it until former Beatle George Harrison stepped forward and funded the outstanding film.)

The First Temptation of Christ is described in the official Netflix description in the film's title page as: "Jesus, who's hitting the big 3-0, brings a surprise guest to meet the family. A Christmas special so wrong, it must be from comedians Porta dos Fundos." It turns out Jesus' guest is his gay boyfriend! Jesus must need conversion therapy! (Yeah, Christians should just smile and walk away. But leftists never do that. They protest, boycott, whine and complain, burn down buildings and throw things a police. But they are never expected to smile and walk away.

The author has yet to document any instance of an accusation of blasphemy.)

The comedians of Porta dos Fundos have been physically attacked by angry Christians. (Undocumented claim.)

Their office was fire-bombed for making the film. (The group that claimed responsibility is the "Popular Nationalist Insurgency Command of the Large Brazilian Integralist Family." There is no evidence that these people are Christian.)

Based on the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, the penalty for blasphemy is death, so the Christians who want to murder the comedians of Porta dos Fundos are in line with the teachings of the ungodly and cruel Bible. (The Bible does not teach this regarding Christians. Has the author never heard of "turn the other cheek," or "if someone asks for your cloak, give him your coat too"?)

The American Founder and Deist Thomas Paine did a great job of pointing out that the Bible itself is actually blasphemy against the Creator. In The Age of Reason, The Complete Edition he wrote, "... it (the Bible) is a book of lies, wickedness, and blasphemy; for what can be greater blasphemy than to ascribe the wickedness of man to the orders of the Almighty?" (Our first documentation, hooray. Thomas Paine was an outlier among the founders, but he's a hero to the anti-religion Left. Naturally.

That's where the article ends, awkwardly and without having demonstrated any discernable point.)

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