'And the first person in Christian history to be convicted of blasphemy? Well that would be Jesus, wouldn’t it?'

Steve Tomkins welcomes the move to get rid of the blasphemy laws

Did you know the last person to be imprisoned for blasphemy in the UK was called God? Or to be slightly more accurate he was called Gott, the German word for God.

John William Gott, a Bradford trouser salesman was tried in 1921 for writing Rib Ticklers, or Questions for Parsons which referred to Jesus riding into Jerusalem on both “an ass and a colt the foal of an ass” (Matthew 21:5), pointing out that this made him sound “like a circus clown”.

In poor health, he was sentenced to nine months’ hard labour, and died shortly after his release.

And the first person in Christian history to be convicted of blasphemy? Well that would be Jesus, wouldn’t it? “‘You have heard the blasphemy. What do you think?’ They all condemned him as deserving to die.” (Mark 14: 64)

That’s a pretty proud tradition to be standing in.

Throwback

The law against blasphemy, that will hopefully be repealed this year, is a throwback to the days of the repressive monolithic state church, when dissent from the one true faith was punished ruthlessly.

It is bizarre, in our secular, multi-cultural society to see Christians trying to exercise power we no longer have, to impose a uniformity that died generations ago.

It is not only bizarre but quiet alien to the spirit of the New Testament. As I say, it was Jesus who was punished by his opponents for blasphemy, not the other way round.

He told his followers, as you will remember, to love their enemies and count attacks on the faith as a blessing.

This is what many early Christians did, and were killed for offending the God of the Israel or the gods of Rome – according to their defenders on earth.

It is the tragedy of church history to see this band of counter-cultural believers gain power and become the persecuting religious establishment.

'Godpolice'

Having inherited the earth, they decided meekness was weakness and became bloodthirsty 'godpolice'.

Then there’s the theological dimension to the issue. It does not say much for Christian’s confidence in Almighty God that they feel the need to protect him. If he can’t stand up for himself, who can?

And if, as we’re told, he calls his followers to suffer whatever insults – and worse – are thrown at them for his name’s sake, humbly and forgivingly, then how can we believe he demands they fight back when he is insulted himself?

Doesn’t the Bible say ‘You shall not take the Lord’s name in vain?’ You know very well it does.

But Christian morality is for Christians. It is not obvious that we have a responsibility to impose it on the world and demand that people honour the name of a God they believe does not exist.

It is time for Christians in the west to stop trying to control non-Christians’ attitudes to God. Calling for an end to this absurd law would be a good place to start.

It would tell the world that not only can God take it, but now so can we.