(n.) An indignity offered to God in words, writing, or signs; impiously irreverent words or signs addressed to, or used in reference to, God; speaking evil of God; also, the act of claiming the attributes or prerogatives of deity.
(n.) Figuratively, of things held in high honor: Calumny; abuse; vilification.
Example Sentences:
(1) Fears over violence in Jakarta as hardline Islamists protest governor’s ‘blasphemy’ Read more The governorship of the capital is a powerful position and was a stepping stone for Joko Widodo to the presidency two years ago.
(2) His controversial 1988 book The Satanic Verses, which provoked a religious opinion or fatwa, from the Iranian leader Ayatollah Khomeini calling for the author's killing as punishment for blasphemy, is still banned in India.
(3) But this was, after all, the late 20th century and the rather antiquated British blasphemy laws were something of an irrelevance.
(4) To people who have faith that the world can heal itself through the unfettered interaction of economically rational individuals, and that, if capitalism were allowed to operate freely, there would be no more slumps and bubbles because the invisible hand of the market would guide everything to its rightful price, the seasonal rush must seem like an orgy of blasphemy.
(5) Chanting “God is greatest”, many in Friday’s protest waved placards calling for Purnama, popularly known as Ahok, to be jailed for blasphemy.
(6) During the original trial, much emphasis was placed on the blasphemy of the women doing their dance right in front of the altar.
(7) The government also blocked about a dozen websites and blogs to stem the furore over blasphemy, as well as stepping up security for the bloggers.
(8) They have pandered to fundamentalism over the blasphemy law rather than facing it down.
(9) I have lost two brothers in this war, I swear by the great honour of the southern revolution.” “That’s blasphemy – you should only swear by God,” said the jihadi.
(10) At the same time, Christian lobbyists, spotting broadcasters' ring-fencing of the prophet, have increased their own blasphemy-policing.
(11) Paris was the place to be, the political atmosphere suited a cartoonist’s work – cartoons fitted with the slogans and graffiti of the time, its poetry.” Willem joined Hara Kiri , Charlie Hebdo ’s precursor, setting himself immediately to work on blasphemy, vicious political satire and “things some people might regard as pornographic”.
(12) And in 2013, a lecturer called Junaid Hafeez was jailed after students accused him of committing blasphemy on his Facebook page in an affair which also led to his lawyer being shot dead.
(13) As a former Christian and theology graduate, I felt reasonably well qualified to argue my point about blasphemy, but sex is a whole other area – what is acceptable here is a rather more nebulous concept, of course, and there is little objective legislation to help us in matters of taste.
(14) Acquittals in blasphemy cases in the Indonesian courts are rare, but Ahok has vowed to continue his campaign and to contest the election.
(15) Not even the Spanish Inquisition entailed such delicate, hair-trigger recriminations for blasphemy as the one that set off this MSNBC host yesterday on his little patriotism enforcement crusade.
(16) Hundreds camped out until around four in the morning beside the parliament building, demanding Purnama be charged with blasphemy.
(17) There is some frankly rather inappropriate cheering at this shout-out to our most potent secular blasphemy, but not, I note, from the two serious young black men sitting next to me.
(18) Blasphemy might be an extremely serious offence in the receiving state; other states do not even criminalise it.
(19) Today's statement by foreign ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu denounced Liu as a criminal and said his award was a "blasphemy to the peace prize".
(20) That was until July 1977, when Mary Whitehouse, self-appointed guardian of national morals, won a blasphemy libel case against Gay News for publishing a poem about a Roman centurion's homoerotic leanings towards the crucified Christ.
Sacrilege
Definition:
(n.) The sin or crime of violating or profaning sacred things; the alienating to laymen, or to common purposes, what has been appropriated or consecrated to religious persons or uses.
Example Sentences:
(1) The organisation, whose name means "non-Islamic education is sacrilege", is fighting to impose a strict interpretation of sharia law across Africa's most populous country.
(2) Devout Muslims consider it a sacrilege for infidels to depose a Muslim tyrant and occupy Muslim lands — no matter how well intentioned the infidels or malevolent the tyrant.
(3) Responsible for close to 200 deaths so far this year, Boko Haram, whose name means "Non-Islamic Education is sacrilege", wants to extend sharia law – already in place in some northern states – across Nigeria's 160 million-strong population, which is evenly split between Muslim and Christian.
(4) Boko Haram, whose name means "western education is sacrilege" in Hausa, wants to implement strict Sharia law and avenge the deaths of Muslims in communal violence across Nigeria , a multi-ethnic nation of more than 160 million people split largely into a Christian south and Muslim north.
(5) Boko Haram, which means "western education is sacrilege" in the Hausa language of Nigeria's north, wants to implement strict sharia law and avenge the deaths of Muslims in communal violence across Nigeria , a multiethnic nation of more than 160 million people split largely into a Christian south and Muslim north.
(6) Furthermore, some people seem to think that hip-hop is supposed to be a serious thing and treating it humorously is sacrilege.
(7) Madonna review – mistress of sex, sacrilege and stairs Read more Bishop Dunn’s condemnation followed a complaint made by the archbishop of Singapore when the Rebel Heart tour stopped there last month.
(8) Critics regard the very suggestion that there is a way to take CO2 out of the air, reversing fossil-fuel pollution, as sacrilege.
(9) Boko Haram, whose name means "western education is sacrilege", is responsible for at least 510 killings last year alone, according to Associated Press.
(10) But dropping a bomb on a football stadium … sacrilege!
(11) Whisky, you have to wait years.” He fetched coffee – “Sacrilege, really, but there are times when only caffeine will do” – followed by a glass of the seasonal brew (Santa Paws; made with plums, dates, mixed fruit and a hint of star anise; unexpectedly drinkable).
(12) "It seems inadmissible that an international cultural evening, paying homage to one of the greatest contemporary film-makers, is used by police to apprehend him," the directors said as they decried the sacrilege.
(13) Some critics question whether a six-minute horse dance to music is really sport but dressage lovers pour scorn on such sacrilege.
(14) It's freezing Yeah Yeah Yeahs' new Sacrilege video , features Lily Cole copulating with an entire town: men, women in stockings, a vicar, all the usual suspects.
(15) We've been accused of sacrilege, of displaying a certain amount of brass neck in reworking something so revered as The Ladykillers.
(16) The table on which it was signed is locked away in a storeroom at Belfast City Hall, having been rescued from council workmen who committed the near sacrilege of mixing cement on it.
(17) There were people who sought to "justify and downplay this sacrilege", he said.
(18) Since glorious Technicolor, pretty much, the idea of a woman with wit has been cinematic sacrilege.
(19) As acts of sacrilege in South Africa go, it's hard to beat.