What's the difference between desecration and sacrilege?

Desecration


Definition:

  • (n.) The act of desecrating; profanation; condition of anything desecrated.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Indonesia’s largest Muslim group, Nahdlatul Ulama, in February described gay lifestyles as perverted and a desecration of human dignity.
  • (2) And Islamist extremists desecrated shrines built by Sufi Muslims and the graves of British soldiers.
  • (3) "We will do everything that we can to remove funding for the Brooklyn museum until the director comes to his senses and realises that if you are a government-subsidised enterprise, then you can't do things that desecrate the most personal and deeply held views of people in society.
  • (4) On Wednesday, Sboui appeared before an investigating judge in Kairouan who is considering the charges; they include public indecency, desecrating a cemetery and belonging to a band of malefactors seeking to damage public property.
  • (5) But what can be done to halt this desecration is less obvious.
  • (6) There were shouts of "shame" from the Tory benches when John McDonnell, the Labour MP for Hayes and Harlington, said that Britain should apologise because it had been willing to provide military support to "desecrate" the holiest site in the Sikh faith.
  • (7) Unconscious aggression is unleashed against the Jews, who thus become scapegoats against whom three constantly recurring accusations are levelled: the killing of Christ; the desecration of the Host; and the ritual murder of children.
  • (8) In a letter to a corporation official, Cottam wrote: "Desecration: graffiti have been scratched and painted on to the great west doors of the cathedral, the chapter house door and most notably a sacrilegious message painted on to the restored pillars of the west portico.
  • (9) But to be credible, those who condemn that slander must also condemn the hate we see in the images of Jesus Christ that are desecrated, or churches that are destroyed, or the Holocaust that is denied.
  • (10) And cemeteries are desecrated so not even the dead can escape.
  • (11) He once created a metallic artwork decorated with the phrase "I have no desire whatsoever to desecrate the grave of seminal Manchester pop group The Stone Roses" and displayed it on his website.
  • (12) As he was conveniently dead, that box was then moved, for fear of desecration.
  • (13) At least 400 people were killed in the army's infamous Operation Blue Star, which enraged Sikhs who accused the troops of desecrating the shrine.
  • (14) His claims of "desecration" and graffiti on the cathedral, along with details of "human defecation", drug use and general disruption caused by the camp have infuriated protesters, who have interpreted his comments as support for the corporation's eviction attempt.
  • (15) Isis was “intent upon only desecration and destruction” and was murdering innocent people and oppressing and raping women and girls across northern Iraq, Shorten said.
  • (16) These parameters call for “freedom of access to the holy sites consistent with the established status quo”, without recognizing that for 50 years Israeli governments have shredded that status quo, desecrating Muslim cemeteries like Mamilla and Bab al-Rahmeh, demolishing ancient Ummayad buildings discovered south of the Haram, and much else, in the race to dig down to the only strata that matter to nationalist Israeli archaeologists.
  • (17) Certainly these are not words of contrition and the Sun on Sunday so swiftly returning to the fecund bone-yard of gossip, poison and lies indicates that they've learned nothing from the outrage they provoked with their desecration of the dead children of ordinary people.
  • (18) Two members of the ruling National Transitional Council (NTC) were reportedly entrusted with the burial in an unknown location - chosen to avoid the risk of the grave becoming a shrine for supporters or, more likely, being desecrated by vengeful opponents.
  • (19) Two senior US officers were shot dead inside Kabul's heavily fortified interior ministry on Saturday and at least six others died in street protests as another day of violence convulsed Afghanistan following the desecration of copies of the Qur'an by American soldiers.
  • (20) Gross desecration of Catholic or Protestant religious symbols is no longer a sin in America.

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.