Many of the original plantations established blasphemy laws, which became state laws. The U.S. Supreme Court did not rule that blasphemy was a form of protected speech until 1952. Even then, it has not always been protected.
The plantations/early states often developed legal protections for Christians to practice their specific version of the Christian religion so these safeguards often did not extend to non-Christians.
Maryland’s Toleration Act of 1649 was the first Colonial act to refer to the “free exercise” of religion and was designed to protect Christians from religious persecution from state officials. It did not extend that “free exercise” of religion to non-Christians, instead declaring that anyone who blasphemes against God by cursing him or denying the existence of Jesus can be punished by death or the forfeiture of their lands to the state.
In 1811, the U.S. held one of its most infamous blasphemy trials, People v. Ruggles, at the New York Supreme Court. John Ruggles received a 3-month prison sentence and a $500 fine — about $12,000 in 2024 — for stating in public that “Jesus Christ was a bastard, and his mother must be a whore.” Chief Justice James Kent argued that people have freedom of religious opinion, but opinions that were malicious toward the majority stance of Christianity were an abuse of that right. He also stated that similar attacks on other religions, such as Islam and Buddhism, would not be punishable by law, because “we are a Christian people” whose country does not draw on the doctrines of “those imposters.”
In 1824, a member of a debating society was convicted of blasphemy by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court for saying during a debate: “The Holy Scriptures were a mere fable, that they were a contradiction, and that although they contained a number of good things, yet they contained a great many lies.” In this case — Updegraph v. Commonwealth — the court argued it was a “vulgarly shocking and insulting” statement that reflected “the highest offence” against public morals and was a disturbance to “public peace.”
The last person in Britain to be sent to prison for blasphemy was John William Gott in 1921. He had 3 previous convictions for blasphemy when he was prosecuted for publishing 2 pamphlets called 'Rib Ticklers, or Questions for Parsons and God and Gott'. Gott satirised the biblical story of Jesus entering Jerusalem (Matthew 21:2–7) comparing Jesus to a circus clown. He was sentenced to 9 months' hard labor despite suffering from an incurable illness; he died shortly after release. The case caused public outrage.
In a 1949 speech, Lord Denning placed the blasphemy laws in the past, saying "The reason for this law was because it was thought that a denial of Christianity was liable to shake the fabric of society, which was itself founded upon Christian religion. There is no such danger to society now and the offence of blasphemy is a dead letter".
Not so fast: in 1977 Whitehouse v Lemon (involving the periodical Gay News publishing James Kirkup's poem 'The Love that Dares to Speak its Name') demonstrated that the offence of blasphemous libel, long thought to be dormant, was still in force. During the House of Lords appeal Lord Scarman said that "I do not subscribe to the view that the common-law offence of blasphemous libel serves no useful purpose in modern law. ... The offence belongs to a group of criminal offences designed to safeguard the internal tranquillity of the kingdom." In 2002, a well-publicised public reading of 'The Love that Dares to Speak its Name' was held on the steps of St. Martin-in-the-Fields in Trafalgar Square and failed to lead to any prosecution.
In R v Chief Metropolitan Stipendiary Magistrate, ex parte Choudhury (1991), a divisional court held that the blasphemy offence prohibited attacks only on the Christian religion, and did not prohibit attacks on the Islamic religion. It was also held that the failure of these offences to prohibit attacks on non-Christian religions did not violate article 9 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (which relates to freedom of religion).
On 5 March 2008, an amendment was passed to the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 which abolished the common law offences of blasphemy and blasphemous libel in England and Wales. The peers also voted for the laws to be abandoned during March, and the relevant section came into force on 8 July 2008.
In 1656, two weavers, William Bond and Thomas Hibbord were indicted in Wiltshire for atheistic statements. Also in 1656, Alexander Agnew, known as "Jock of Broad Scotland", was convicted and hanged for blasphemy in Dumfries. And also in 1656, the Quaker James Naylor was sentenced by the Second Protectorate Parliament to flogging, to be pilloried, branded on the forehead and the piercing of his tongue by a red-hot poker, and thereafter kept in prison on hard labour indefinitely. In sentencing Naylor, the judge, Lord Commissioner Whitelock, makes the distinction between heresy and blasphemy.
All acts passed during the Interregnum were void after the Restoration because of lack of royal assent.
The death penalty for blasphemy in the UK was abolished in 1676.
Taylor's Case in 1676 was the first reported case of the common law offence of blasphemy. There may have been unreported earlier cases. Lord Sumner said "Taylor's case is the foundation stone of this part of the law". The report by Ventris contains this: "Hale said that such kind of wicked blasphemous words were not only an offence to God and religion, but a crime against the laws, State and Government, and therefore punishable in this Court. For to say, religion is a cheat, is to dissolve all those obligations whereby the civil societies are preserved, and that Christianity is parcel of the laws of England; and therefore to reproach the Christian religion is to speak in subversion of the law.
Those denying the Trinity were deprived of the benefit of the Toleration Act 1688.
The Blasphemy Act 1697 enacted that if any person, educated in or having made profession of the Christian religion, should by writing, preaching, teaching or advised speaking, deny that the members of the Holy Trinity were God, or should assert that there is more than one god, or deny the Christian religion to be true, or the Holy Scriptures to be of divine authority, he should, upon the first offence, be rendered incapable of holding any office or place of trust, and for the second incapable of bringing any action, of being guardian or executor, or of taking a legacy or deed of gift, and should suffer 3 years imprisonment without bail.
Profane cursing and swearing was made punishable by the Profane Oaths Act 1745, which directed that the offender be brought before a JP, and fined an amount that depended on his social rank. It was repealed by the Criminal Law Act 1967.
Since 1838, blasphemy was considered only to be a crime against the beliefs of the Church of England. All blasphemies against God, including denying his being or providence, all contumelious reproaches of Jesus Christ, all profane scoffing at the Holy Scriptures, and exposing any part thereof to contempt or ridicule, were punishable by the temporal courts with death, imprisonment, corporal punishment and fine.
From our Wiki page about Puritanism: "The marriage service was criticised for using a wedding ring (which implied that marriage was a sacrament) and having the groom vow to his bride "with my body I thee worship", which Puritans considered blasphemous. "Swearing and blasphemy were illegal. In 1636, Massachusetts made blasphemy — defined as "a cursing of God by atheism, or the like" — punishable by death. "In 1649, English colonist William Pynchon, the founder of Springfield, Massachusetts, wrote a critique of Puritanical Calvinism, entitled 'The Meritorious Price of Our Redemption'. Published in London in 1650, when the book reached Boston it was immediately ruled as blasphemous by the Massachusetts Bay Colony and was burned on Boston Common. The colony pressed Pynchon to return to England which he did."
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Some 79 countries continue to enforce blasphemy laws. In Afghanistan, Brunei, Iran, Nigeria, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, violation can result in the death penalty. https://theconversation.com/what-…
Laws prohibiting blasphemy and blasphemous libel in the UK date to medieval times as common law and, in some special cases, as enacted legislation. The common law offences of blasphemy and blasphemous libel were formally abolished in England and Wales in 2008 and Scotland in 2024. Equivalent laws remain in Northern Ireland.
An Act of Edward VI (the Sacrament Act 1547) set a punishment of imprisonment for reviling the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. It was repealed in 1553 and revived in 1558.
From the 16th century to the mid-19th century, blasphemy against Christianity was held as an offence against common law.
When formulating his new Church of England's doctrines in the 1530s, Henry VIII made it an offence to say or print any opinion that contradicted the Six Articles (1539).
Blasphemy was also used as a legal instrument to persecute atheists, Unitarians, and others.
The interregnum Parliament in 1650, "holding it to be [its] duty, by all good ways and means to propagate the Gospel in this Commonwealth, to advance Religion in all Sincerity, Godliness, and Honesty" passed "An Act against several Atheistical, Blasphemous and Execrable Opinions, derogatory to the honor of God, and destructive to humane Society", known as the Blasphemy Act of 1650 and intended to punish those "who should abuse and turn into Licentiousness, the liberty given in matters of Conscience".
The City of God metaphor of a walled-in city is increasingly outdated in a digitally-connected, global world. As migration rises around the world because of climate change and conflicts, these metaphors and the attitudes they drive are not just obsolete, but they exacerbate crisis.
The Book of Revelation is hardly the way to describe a nation founded on democratic ideals, foremost of which is the separation of church and state -- a metaphor first used by Roger Williams, founder of Rhode Island. He opined that an authentic Christian church would be possible only if there was “a wall or hedge of separation” between the “wilderness of the world” and “the garden of the church.” Williams believed that any government involvement in the church would corrupt the church.
Instead, we can follow Gov. Winthrop's example and use the more understood Sermon on the Mount. Or we can use Matthew 7:12 and Luke 6:31: “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.” The Golden Rule has echoes in nearly all other religions.
Inspired by this article, which has examples of many Presidents' use of anti-migration speech inspired by the Puritans' use of Revelations: https://theconversation.com/ameri…
For 50 years before the Diary the Puritan emigration to New England had been inspired partly by the Bible.
Puritan colonists believed they were establishing God’s kingdom in the New Jerusalem, both metaphorically and literally. Sadly this idea was based on the Book of Revelations; not one of the Bibles' best understood or positive tracts.
Revelation 21 describes the heavenly New Jerusalem with a massive shining wall, “clear as crystal,” with pearls for gates.
Revelation also describes the end of the world, when the wicked are punished and the good rewarded. It tells the story of God’s enemies, who worship the evil Beast of the Sea, bear his mark on their body, and threaten God’s people. Because of their wickedness, they suffer diseases, catastrophes and war until they are finally destroyed.
But God’s followers enter through those pearly gates in the walls that surround the New Jerusalem, a holy city that comes down from heaven. God’s chosen enter, and live in the shining city for eternity. Consequently efforts were made by early migrants to convert the indigenous Americans and the African slaves, until equality threatened the white supremacy.
In the 1980s President Reagan likened the USA to the New Jerusalem by describing it as a “shining city … built on rocks stronger than oceans, wind-swept, God-blessed, and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace,” but with city walls and doors. He was quoting Puritan Gov. John Winthrop, a founder of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, whose use of the “city on a hill” phrase quotes the Sermon on the Mount. But Reagan’s description more closely matches that of the New Jerusalem in Revelation 21. Like God’s heavenly city, Reagan’s USA also has strong foundations, walls and gates, and people from every nation bringing in tribute.
If people imagine the USA as God’s city, then it’s easy to imagine enemies invading that city. This is how unwanted migrants have been depicted throughout its history: as enemies of God.
All unwanted migrant groups have been accused of being “filthy” and diseased, like the enemies of God in Revelation, targeted as unhealthy and carrying illness.
During COVID-19 (an event considered apocalyptic by some) xenophobic fear focused on Asian Americans and the migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border.
This constellation of labels from Revelation – plague-bearing, bestial, invading, sexually corrupt, murderous – has been recycled throughout the 400 year history of the USA.
I realize I have made a wrong assumption which is reflected in annotations which last from now until October 24, 1661. It was based on this information from our Encyclopedia: "Tangier is a seaport, on a small bay or inlet of the Straits of Gibraltar, which affords the only good harbour for shipping on the sea-board of Morocco, an extent of coast of about 900 miles."
True -- but Tangier is on the WEST side of the Straits -- the Atlantic Ocean side, not the Mediterranean Sea side. I have posted Sandwich's logs assuming it was on the EAST side of the Straits.
Tacking to and from Malaga and Alicante must therefore have been more complicated than sailing to Lisbon.
Scube, the other day Pepys mentioned that Penn had taken advantage of the Duke of York's absence to discuss with Charles II his land exchange in Ireland. (Penn was returning an Interregnum gift to the Royalist owner, and receiving a forfeited property from a Commonwealth owner.) Lord Robartes presumably had to stamp and approve the correct documents, and it sounds as if Pepys and Penn were clarifying what was required.
Why include Pepys in this? Maybe because he's familiar with Privy Seal documents, and his Latin was better than Penn's? Perhaps Penn felt his application would have more weight if he was seen to have an advisor of Pepys' caliber? Pepys may have asked to be included because of his current law suit(s), and the correct transfer of title was a subject he wanted to learn more about. Maybe it was fine day, and they took advantage of a networking opportunity since there was little work in the office today? Just guesses, obviously.
"1746 in Colour: Wapping and Bermondsey Colouring in the John Rocque map, one panel at a time. Matt Brown -- Oct 23, 2024
"Welcome to Londonist: Time Machine. "Today, I’m delighted to publish the fifth part of my ludicrously time-consuming project to colour in the 1746 John Rocque map of London. This week, we’re heading east of London Bridge, to look at the panel that pulls in parts of Wapping and the East End, as well as Bermondsey on the southern shore.
"First, a quick recap for those new to the project. The story so far: In 1746, John Rocque published the most detailed map of London ever created, up to that point. It is immense. Over 24 panels, Rocque and his crew mapped every street, square, farm, open space — even the alleyways — using professional surveying techniques.
"The resulting map is one of the treasures of London. It is simultaneously a work of great beauty and great historical value. But such is the level of detail that it can be difficult to fully discern boundary changes, watercourses and patterns of land use. "To that end — and as an excuse to spend many hours poring over this most spellbinding of maps — I’ve set out to colour-in every panel. My digital paintbrush has not only flicked over the buildings and grassy areas, but also the streams, churches, orchards, ships, individual trees and even their shadows."
1746 in Colour: Wapping and Bermondsey Colouring in the John Rocque map, one panel at a time. Matt Brown -- Oct 23, 2024
Welcome to Londonist: Time Machine. Today, I’m delighted to publish the fifth part of my ludicrously time-consuming project to colour in the 1746 John Rocque map of London. This week, we’re heading east of London Bridge, to look at the panel that pulls in parts of Wapping and the East End, as well as Bermondsey on the southern shore.
First, a quick recap for those new to the project. The story so far: In 1746, John Rocque published the most detailed map of London ever created, up to that point. It is immense. Over 24 panels, Rocque and his crew mapped every street, square, farm, open space — even the alleyways — using professional surveying techniques.
The resulting map is one of the treasures of London. It is simultaneously a work of great beauty and great historical value. But such is the level of detail that it can be difficult to fully discern boundary changes, watercourses and patterns of land use. To that end — and as an excuse to spend many hours poring over this most spellbinding of maps — I’ve set out to colour-in every panel. My digital paintbrush has not only flicked over the buildings and grassy areas, but also the streams, churches, orchards, ships, individual trees and even their shadows.
Today I realized I had made a bad assumption. "Tangier is a seaport, on a small bay or inlet of the Straits of Gibraltar, which affords the only good harbour for shipping on the sea-board of Morocco, an extent of coast of about 900 miles." -- from our Encyclopedia.
True -- but Tangier is on the WEST side of the Straits -- the Atlantic Ocean side, not the Mediterranean Sea side. I've been posting Sandwich's logs up until the end of October 1661 assuming it was on the EAST side of the Straits.
Today I realized I had made a bad assumption. "Tangier is a seaport, on a small bay or inlet of the Straits of Gibraltar, which affords the only good harbour for shipping on the sea-board of Morocco, an extent of coast of about 900 miles." -- from our Encyclopedia.
True -- but Tangier is on the WEST side of the Straits -- the Atlantic Ocean side, not the Mediterranean Sea side. I've been posting Sandwich's logs up until now assuming it was on the EAST side of the Straits.
Tacking to and from Malaga and Alicante therefore must have been more complicated than going to Lisbon. And finding de Ruyter at Cape St. Vincent less difficult (they are all on the East side of the Straits).
Today I realized I had made a bad assumption. "Tangier is a seaport, on a small bay or inlet of the Straits of Gibraltar, which affords the only good harbour for shipping on the sea-board of Morocco, an extent of coast of about 900 miles."
True -- but Tangier is on the WEST side of the Straits -- the Atlantic Ocean side, not the Mediterranean Sea side. I've been posting Sandwich's logs up until the end of October 1661 assuming it was on the east side of the Straits.
Maritime Roadsteads or Roads 'The maritime term for a sheltered area of water near the shore where ships can safely anchor is a roadstead. Roadsteads can be natural or artificial, and are usually located in estuaries. In maritime law, a roadstead is described as a "known general station for ships".'
It's printed in the L&M book, Louise, so there are no links. This will be the link going forward so we won't have to add the info again.
I'm sure you've noticed how much time and energy Terry has put into adding in this valuable information throughout the whole 9-1/2 years. Thank you, Terry. Now I don't have to check my own books every night.
As I suggested, putting basic background info like this into the Encyclopedia shares the info. without adding a spoiler.
Five minutes walk away at St. Mary Abchurch, Hugh and I climbed up ladders to admire the swags on the reredos closely. When these swags were first installed the pale lime wood stood in contrast to the dark oak background, throwing them into even more dramatic relief. This is what we imagine when we think of Grinling Gibbons – lush garlands of fruit, flowers and foliage that he carved in a manner which appeared more lifelike than had been seen before. Yet on close examination, it became evident that the definition of the leaves and fruit was only carved where it was visible, with the forms merging into abstraction away from view.
At St. Paul’s, we admired Grinling Gibbons majestic quire stalls and epic organ case before climbing up into the roof where trays of bits and pieces that have fallen off over the centuries are preserved. Like the most fascinating jigsaw in the world, here are thousands of fragments that all belong somewhere. Examining them closely revealed the breathtaking detail of the carving by Gibbons and his studio who were responsible for all the architectural decoration in the cathedral. Even the wings on the angels can be identified as derived from different species of birds, revealing the minute observation of the natural world that informs these bravura carvings.
As we left the cathedral, Hugh and I paused to look back at the west front and admire Gibbons’ lavish foliate adornments that provide such a successful counterpoint to the austerity of Wren’s geometry. Somehow the palm leaves on the Corinthian columns are more luxuriant that you might expect. Garlands of leaves and fruit have been hung directly across structural elements of the design, disrupting its formality.
The legend that Gibbons and Wren had a tense working relationship comes as no surprise because the conflict is evident in the dynamic between the two visual languages at play. Yet it is this dynamic between the classical geometry and the presence of organic forms that makes this architecture so compelling and alive. This is Gibbons’ contribution and one of many reasons why we should celebrate his genius. https://spitalfieldslife.com/2024…
Talking about Grinling Gibbons, according to The Gentle Author on the Spitalfield's blog, Gibbons immigrated to England in 1667 -- here's the story, but go to the blog for spectacular pictures:
In Search Of Grinling Gibbons
Master wood carver Hugh Wedderburn took me on a quest in search of Grinling Gibbons in the City of London. Gibbons was born in Rotterdam in 1648, where he trained as wood carver and was exposed to the art of Dutch still life painting before he came to Britain in 1667.
John Evelyn wrote in his diary in 1671, ‘I this day first acquainted with a young man Gibson [sic] whom I had lately found in an obscure place & that by mere accident, as I was walking neere a poor solitary thatched house in a field in our parish neere Says Court. I found him shut in but looking through the window I perceiv’d him carving that large cartoone or Crucifix of Tintoretto.’
John Evelyn arranged introductions for Grinling Gibbons to Charles II and Christopher Wren, enabling him to set up his workshop on Ludgate Hill – an auspicious and opportune location for a wood carver, beside the ruins of Old St. Paul’s.
It is significant that Evelyn described Gibbons carving from a 2-dimensional image, transforming it into physical form. Today Gibbons is recognised for his extraordinarily lifelike carvings of flowers, fruit and foliage, which bear a relationship to still life painting yet upon close examination are less naturalistic than they may at first appear.
From Hugh Wedderburn’s workshop in Southwark, we undertook our quest westward across the City, starting at the Tower of London to visit the Parade of Kings – a sequence of monarchs in armour on horseback – where a wooden horse is attributed to Gibbons and a portrait head of Charles I is by the same hand. While the other horses are lifeless merry-go-round figures, more mounts for armour than sculptures in their own right, it is easy to appreciate why this one particular horse might earn its attribution, with its lifelike flared nostrils and bulging veins visible through the skin. The accompanying head of Charles I possesses a soulful melancholy and presence, in stark contrast to the workmanlike nature of the others.
Just up the hill at All Hallows By The Tower, we admired the elaborate font * lid of foliage with two putti gesturing to the large bird atop the construction. When the lid is suspended up above the font for ceremonies and seen from below, it has proportion and balance with everything in place. Yet when it is lowered, the sculpture appears distorted and the putti’s anatomy bulges curiously. This is an example of carving in perspective and evidence of Gibbons’ sense of theatre, creating a visual effect that works from a single view point and is deliberately non-naturalistic.
Archery Butts must have been all over the country, close to towns:
"Throughout the Middle Ages, English men were required by law to practice longbow archery — a mandate that was in place for longer than you might expect. Early laws encouraged practicing archery indirectly: Henry I, who ruled England from 1100 to 1135, declared that deaths accidentally caused by practicing archers didn’t count as murder or manslaughter. During the reign of Henry III, the 1252 Assize of Arms required that able-bodied men of a certain means between the ages of 15 and 60 be equipped with a bow and arrows and know how to use them — although residents of England’s royal forests had to practice with blunt arrows to protect the king’s game.
"In 1363, Edward III, who was in the midst of the Hundred Years’ War and convinced that archery skills were “almost wholly disused,” declared that able-bodied men must practice archery on holidays. The Archery Law, enacted that same year, further demanded practice on Sundays. Edward also outlawed, on pain of imprisonment, watching or participating in “vain games of no value,” a wide net that included handball, football, hurling stones, and cockfighting.
"Subsequent kings laid down similar acts: Richard II banned several games and required serfs and peasants to practice the longbow, and Edward IV set minimum imports for equipment. Henry VIII, after introducing several bans on games and tighter enforcement procedures earlier in his reign, passed one of the most notorious pro-archery laws of all in 1541: It nullified all previous acts, banned even more non-archery sports, and exempted wealthy people. In addition to requiring men under 60 (and, to a lesser extent, their male children) to own a certain amount of archery equipment, it empowered employers to garnish the wages of any servants who didn’t have it.
"The 1541 law was still on the books in bits and pieces until the 20th century, but England’s Betting and Gaming Act of 1960 finally nullified the last of the country’s longbow mandates.
"Yew longbows were exciting new military technology in medieval England, but archery has likely existed in one form or another since the Stone Age. Bows and arrows are often made of organic materials that don’t stand the test of time, but the earliest surviving evidence of the weapon is around 64,000 years old, discovered in Sibudu Cave in South Africa. Stone arrowheads found at the site have remnants of blood and bone on them, glue residue that could have been used to attach them to wooden shafts, and damage patterns consistent with being used as projectiles (versus signs of thrust, like would be seen on spears).
"Archery made an early appearance all over the world. Archaeologists found 48,000-year-old bone arrowheads in Sri Lanka’s Fa-Hien Lena cave in 2020, and 54,000-year-old arrowheads in France’s Grotte Mandrin in 2023." https://historyfacts.com/world-hi…
For those interested in the weather, the Rev. Ralph says "the season now wet, which is a mercy after so much drought." Obviously it's too late in the season for this year's crop, which must have been a worry for all.
Comments
Third Reading
About Puritanism
San Diego Sarah • Link
US BLASOHEMY LAWS:
The USA has a long history of blasphemy laws.
Many of the original plantations established blasphemy laws, which became state laws. The U.S. Supreme Court did not rule that blasphemy was a form of protected speech until 1952. Even then, it has not always been protected.
The plantations/early states often developed legal protections for Christians to practice their specific version of the Christian religion so these safeguards often did not extend to non-Christians.
Maryland’s Toleration Act of 1649 was the first Colonial act to refer to the “free exercise” of religion and was designed to protect Christians from religious persecution from state officials. It did not extend that “free exercise” of religion to non-Christians, instead declaring that anyone who blasphemes against God by cursing him or denying the existence of Jesus can be punished by death or the forfeiture of their lands to the state.
In 1811, the U.S. held one of its most infamous blasphemy trials, People v. Ruggles, at the New York Supreme Court. John Ruggles received a 3-month prison sentence and a $500 fine — about $12,000 in 2024 — for stating in public that “Jesus Christ was a bastard, and his mother must be a whore.”
Chief Justice James Kent argued that people have freedom of religious opinion, but opinions that were malicious toward the majority stance of Christianity were an abuse of that right.
He also stated that similar attacks on other religions, such as Islam and Buddhism, would not be punishable by law, because “we are a Christian people” whose country does not draw on the doctrines of “those imposters.”
In 1824, a member of a debating society was convicted of blasphemy by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court for saying during a debate: “The Holy Scriptures were a mere fable, that they were a contradiction, and that although they contained a number of good things, yet they contained a great many lies.”
In this case — Updegraph v. Commonwealth — the court argued it was a “vulgarly shocking and insulting” statement that reflected “the highest offence” against public morals and was a disturbance to “public peace.”
About Puritanism
San Diego Sarah • Link
CONCLUSION OF UK BLASPHEMY LAWS:
The last person in Britain to be sent to prison for blasphemy was John William Gott in 1921. He had 3 previous convictions for blasphemy when he was prosecuted for publishing 2 pamphlets called 'Rib Ticklers, or Questions for Parsons and God and Gott'.
Gott satirised the biblical story of Jesus entering Jerusalem (Matthew 21:2–7) comparing Jesus to a circus clown.
He was sentenced to 9 months' hard labor despite suffering from an incurable illness; he died shortly after release. The case caused public outrage.
In a 1949 speech, Lord Denning placed the blasphemy laws in the past, saying "The reason for this law was because it was thought that a denial of Christianity was liable to shake the fabric of society, which was itself founded upon Christian religion. There is no such danger to society now and the offence of blasphemy is a dead letter".
Not so fast: in 1977 Whitehouse v Lemon (involving the periodical Gay News publishing James Kirkup's poem 'The Love that Dares to Speak its Name') demonstrated that the offence of blasphemous libel, long thought to be dormant, was still in force.
During the House of Lords appeal Lord Scarman said that "I do not subscribe to the view that the common-law offence of blasphemous libel serves no useful purpose in modern law. ... The offence belongs to a group of criminal offences designed to safeguard the internal tranquillity of the kingdom."
In 2002, a well-publicised public reading of 'The Love that Dares to Speak its Name' was held on the steps of St. Martin-in-the-Fields in Trafalgar Square and failed to lead to any prosecution.
In R v Chief Metropolitan Stipendiary Magistrate, ex parte Choudhury (1991), a divisional court held that the blasphemy offence prohibited attacks only on the Christian religion, and did not prohibit attacks on the Islamic religion.
It was also held that the failure of these offences to prohibit attacks on non-Christian religions did not violate article 9 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (which relates to freedom of religion).
On 5 March 2008, an amendment was passed to the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 which abolished the common law offences of blasphemy and blasphemous libel in England and Wales. The peers also voted for the laws to be abandoned during March, and the relevant section came into force on 8 July 2008.
Excerpted from
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bla…
About Puritanism
San Diego Sarah • Link
PART 2 OF UK BLASPHEMY LAWS:
In 1656, two weavers, William Bond and Thomas Hibbord were indicted in Wiltshire for atheistic statements.
Also in 1656, Alexander Agnew, known as "Jock of Broad Scotland", was convicted and hanged for blasphemy in Dumfries.
And also in 1656, the Quaker James Naylor was sentenced by the Second Protectorate Parliament to flogging, to be pilloried, branded on the forehead and the piercing of his tongue by a red-hot poker, and thereafter kept in prison on hard labour indefinitely.
In sentencing Naylor, the judge, Lord Commissioner Whitelock, makes the distinction between heresy and blasphemy.
All acts passed during the Interregnum were void after the Restoration because of lack of royal assent.
The death penalty for blasphemy in the UK was abolished in 1676.
Taylor's Case in 1676 was the first reported case of the common law offence of blasphemy. There may have been unreported earlier cases. Lord Sumner said "Taylor's case is the foundation stone of this part of the law".
The report by Ventris contains this: "Hale said that such kind of wicked blasphemous words were not only an offence to God and religion, but a crime against the laws, State and Government, and therefore punishable in this Court. For to say, religion is a cheat, is to dissolve all those obligations whereby the civil societies are preserved, and that Christianity is parcel of the laws of England; and therefore to reproach the Christian religion is to speak in subversion of the law.
Those denying the Trinity were deprived of the benefit of the Toleration Act 1688.
The Blasphemy Act 1697 enacted that if any person, educated in or having made profession of the Christian religion, should by writing, preaching, teaching or advised speaking, deny that the members of the Holy Trinity were God, or should assert that there is more than one god, or deny the Christian religion to be true, or the Holy Scriptures to be of divine authority, he should, upon the first offence, be rendered incapable of holding any office or place of trust, and for the second incapable of bringing any action, of being guardian or executor, or of taking a legacy or deed of gift, and should suffer 3 years imprisonment without bail.
Profane cursing and swearing was made punishable by the Profane Oaths Act 1745, which directed that the offender be brought before a JP, and fined an amount that depended on his social rank.
It was repealed by the Criminal Law Act 1967.
Since 1838, blasphemy was considered only to be a crime against the beliefs of the Church of England.
All blasphemies against God, including denying his being or providence, all contumelious reproaches of Jesus Christ, all profane scoffing at the Holy Scriptures, and exposing any part thereof to contempt or ridicule, were punishable by the temporal courts with death, imprisonment, corporal punishment and fine.
About Puritanism
San Diego Sarah • Link
From our Wiki page about Puritanism:
"The marriage service was criticised for using a wedding ring (which implied that marriage was a sacrament) and having the groom vow to his bride "with my body I thee worship", which Puritans considered blasphemous.
"Swearing and blasphemy were illegal. In 1636, Massachusetts made blasphemy — defined as "a cursing of God by atheism, or the like" — punishable by death.
"In 1649, English colonist William Pynchon, the founder of Springfield, Massachusetts, wrote a critique of Puritanical Calvinism, entitled 'The Meritorious Price of Our Redemption'. Published in London in 1650, when the book reached Boston it was immediately ruled as blasphemous by the Massachusetts Bay Colony and was burned on Boston Common. The colony pressed Pynchon to return to England which he did."
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Some 79 countries continue to enforce blasphemy laws. In Afghanistan, Brunei, Iran, Nigeria, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, violation can result in the death penalty.
https://theconversation.com/what-…
Laws prohibiting blasphemy and blasphemous libel in the UK date to medieval times as common law and, in some special cases, as enacted legislation.
The common law offences of blasphemy and blasphemous libel were formally abolished in England and Wales in 2008 and Scotland in 2024. Equivalent laws remain in Northern Ireland.
An Act of Edward VI (the Sacrament Act 1547) set a punishment of imprisonment for reviling the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. It was repealed in 1553 and revived in 1558.
From the 16th century to the mid-19th century, blasphemy against Christianity was held as an offence against common law.
When formulating his new Church of England's doctrines in the 1530s, Henry VIII made it an offence to say or print any opinion that contradicted the Six Articles (1539).
Blasphemy was also used as a legal instrument to persecute atheists, Unitarians, and others.
The interregnum Parliament in 1650, "holding it to be [its] duty, by all good ways and means to propagate the Gospel in this Commonwealth, to advance Religion in all Sincerity, Godliness, and Honesty" passed "An Act against several Atheistical, Blasphemous and Execrable Opinions, derogatory to the honor of God, and destructive to humane Society", known as the Blasphemy Act of 1650 and intended to punish those "who should abuse and turn into Licentiousness, the liberty given in matters of Conscience".
About The Bible
San Diego Sarah • Link
CONCLUSION:
The City of God metaphor of a walled-in city is increasingly outdated in a digitally-connected, global world. As migration rises around the world because of climate change and conflicts, these metaphors and the attitudes they drive are not just obsolete, but they exacerbate crisis.
The Book of Revelation is hardly the way to describe a nation founded on democratic ideals, foremost of which is the separation of church and state -- a metaphor first used by Roger Williams, founder of Rhode Island.
He opined that an authentic Christian church would be possible only if there was “a wall or hedge of separation” between the “wilderness of the world” and “the garden of the church.” Williams believed that any government involvement in the church would corrupt the church.
Instead, we can follow Gov. Winthrop's example and use the more understood Sermon on the Mount.
Or we can use Matthew 7:12 and Luke 6:31: “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.” The Golden Rule has echoes in nearly all other religions.
Inspired by this article, which has examples of many Presidents' use of anti-migration speech inspired by the Puritans' use of Revelations:
https://theconversation.com/ameri…
About The Bible
San Diego Sarah • Link
For 50 years before the Diary the Puritan emigration to New England had been inspired partly by the Bible.
Puritan colonists believed they were establishing God’s kingdom in the New Jerusalem, both metaphorically and literally. Sadly this idea was based on the Book of Revelations; not one of the Bibles' best understood or positive tracts.
Revelation 21 describes the heavenly New Jerusalem with a massive shining wall, “clear as crystal,” with pearls for gates.
Revelation also describes the end of the world, when the wicked are punished and the good rewarded. It tells the story of God’s enemies, who worship the evil Beast of the Sea, bear his mark on their body, and threaten God’s people. Because of their wickedness, they suffer diseases, catastrophes and war until they are finally destroyed.
But God’s followers enter through those pearly gates in the walls that surround the New Jerusalem, a holy city that comes down from heaven. God’s chosen enter, and live in the shining city for eternity. Consequently efforts were made by early migrants to convert the indigenous Americans and the African slaves, until equality threatened the white supremacy.
In the 1980s President Reagan likened the USA to the New Jerusalem by describing it as a “shining city … built on rocks stronger than oceans, wind-swept, God-blessed, and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace,” but with city walls and doors.
He was quoting Puritan Gov. John Winthrop, a founder of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, whose use of the “city on a hill” phrase quotes the Sermon on the Mount.
But Reagan’s description more closely matches that of the New Jerusalem in Revelation 21. Like God’s heavenly city, Reagan’s USA also has strong foundations, walls and gates, and people from every nation bringing in tribute.
If people imagine the USA as God’s city, then it’s easy to imagine enemies invading that city. This is how unwanted migrants have been depicted throughout its history: as enemies of God.
All unwanted migrant groups have been accused of being “filthy” and diseased, like the enemies of God in Revelation, targeted as unhealthy and carrying illness.
During COVID-19 (an event considered apocalyptic by some) xenophobic fear focused on Asian Americans and the migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border.
This constellation of labels from Revelation – plague-bearing, bestial, invading, sexually corrupt, murderous – has been recycled throughout the 400 year history of the USA.
About Wednesday 4 September 1661
San Diego Sarah • Link
I realize I have made a wrong assumption which is reflected in annotations which last from now until October 24, 1661. It was based on this information from our Encyclopedia: "Tangier is a seaport, on a small bay or inlet of the Straits of Gibraltar, which affords the only good harbour for shipping on the sea-board of Morocco, an extent of coast of about 900 miles."
True -- but Tangier is on the WEST side of the Straits -- the Atlantic Ocean side, not the Mediterranean Sea side. I have posted Sandwich's logs assuming it was on the EAST side of the Straits.
Tacking to and from Malaga and Alicante must therefore have been more complicated than sailing to Lisbon.
My apologies to all for any confusion I cause.
About Wednesday 23 October 1661
San Diego Sarah • Link
Scube, the other day Pepys mentioned that Penn had taken advantage of the Duke of York's absence to discuss with Charles II his land exchange in Ireland. (Penn was returning an Interregnum gift to the Royalist owner, and receiving a forfeited property from a Commonwealth owner.) Lord Robartes presumably had to stamp and approve the correct documents, and it sounds as if Pepys and Penn were clarifying what was required.
Why include Pepys in this?
Maybe because he's familiar with Privy Seal documents, and his Latin was better than Penn's?
Perhaps Penn felt his application would have more weight if he was seen to have an advisor of Pepys' caliber?
Pepys may have asked to be included because of his current law suit(s), and the correct transfer of title was a subject he wanted to learn more about.
Maybe it was fine day, and they took advantage of a networking opportunity since there was little work in the office today?
Just guesses, obviously.
About Maps of London
San Diego Sarah • Link
"1746 in Colour: Wapping and Bermondsey
Colouring in the John Rocque map, one panel at a time.
Matt Brown -- Oct 23, 2024
"Welcome to Londonist: Time Machine.
"Today, I’m delighted to publish the fifth part of my ludicrously time-consuming project to colour in the 1746 John Rocque map of London.
This week, we’re heading east of London Bridge, to look at the panel that pulls in parts of Wapping and the East End, as well as Bermondsey on the southern shore.
"First, a quick recap for those new to the project. The story so far:
In 1746, John Rocque published the most detailed map of London ever created, up to that point. It is immense. Over 24 panels, Rocque and his crew mapped every street, square, farm, open space — even the alleyways — using professional surveying techniques.
"The resulting map is one of the treasures of London. It is simultaneously a work of great beauty and great historical value. But such is the level of detail that it can be difficult to fully discern boundary changes, watercourses and patterns of land use.
"To that end — and as an excuse to spend many hours poring over this most spellbinding of maps — I’ve set out to colour-in every panel. My digital paintbrush has not only flicked over the buildings and grassy areas, but also the streams, churches, orchards, ships, individual trees and even their shadows."
https://londonist.substack.com/p/…
Matt Brown includes links to other parts of the map which he has colorized so far. 100 years after Pepys, but still fascinating.
I find it impossible to imagine the Thames full of sailing ships, as shown here. It must have been breathtaking.
About Wapping
San Diego Sarah • Link
1746 in Colour: Wapping and Bermondsey
Colouring in the John Rocque map, one panel at a time.
Matt Brown -- Oct 23, 2024
Welcome to Londonist: Time Machine.
Today, I’m delighted to publish the fifth part of my ludicrously time-consuming project to colour in the 1746 John Rocque map of London.
This week, we’re heading east of London Bridge, to look at the panel that pulls in parts of Wapping and the East End, as well as Bermondsey on the southern shore.
First, a quick recap for those new to the project. The story so far:
In 1746, John Rocque published the most detailed map of London ever created, up to that point. It is immense. Over 24 panels, Rocque and his crew mapped every street, square, farm, open space — even the alleyways — using professional surveying techniques.
The resulting map is one of the treasures of London. It is simultaneously a work of great beauty and great historical value. But such is the level of detail that it can be difficult to fully discern boundary changes, watercourses and patterns of land use.
To that end — and as an excuse to spend many hours poring over this most spellbinding of maps — I’ve set out to colour-in every panel. My digital paintbrush has not only flicked over the buildings and grassy areas, but also the streams, churches, orchards, ships, individual trees and even their shadows.
https://londonist.substack.com/p/…
I find it impossible to imagine the Thames full of sailing ships, as shown here. It must have been breathtaking.
About Mediterranean (The Straits)
San Diego Sarah • Link
Today I realized I had made a bad assumption. "Tangier is a seaport, on a small bay or inlet of the Straits of Gibraltar, which affords the only good harbour for shipping on the sea-board of Morocco, an extent of coast of about 900 miles." -- from our Encyclopedia.
True -- but Tangier is on the WEST side of the Straits -- the Atlantic Ocean side, not the Mediterranean Sea side. I've been posting Sandwich's logs up until the end of October 1661 assuming it was on the EAST side of the Straits.
My apologies to anyone I have misled.
About Thursday 24 October 1661
San Diego Sarah • Link
Today I realized I had made a bad assumption. "Tangier is a seaport, on a small bay or inlet of the Straits of Gibraltar, which affords the only good harbour for shipping on the sea-board of Morocco, an extent of coast of about 900 miles." -- from our Encyclopedia.
True -- but Tangier is on the WEST side of the Straits -- the Atlantic Ocean side, not the Mediterranean Sea side. I've been posting Sandwich's logs up until now assuming it was on the EAST side of the Straits.
Tacking to and from Malaga and Alicante therefore must have been more complicated than going to Lisbon. And finding de Ruyter at Cape St. Vincent less difficult (they are all on the East side of the Straits).
Duh.
My apologies to anyone/everyone I have confused.
About Tangier, Morocco
San Diego Sarah • Link
Today I realized I had made a bad assumption. "Tangier is a seaport, on a small bay or inlet of the Straits of Gibraltar, which affords the only good harbour for shipping on the sea-board of Morocco, an extent of coast of about 900 miles."
True -- but Tangier is on the WEST side of the Straits -- the Atlantic Ocean side, not the Mediterranean Sea side. I've been posting Sandwich's logs up until the end of October 1661 assuming it was on the east side of the Straits.
My apologies to anyone I have misled.
About Roads and Routes
San Diego Sarah • Link
Maritime Roadsteads or Roads
'The maritime term for a sheltered area of water near the shore where ships can safely anchor is a roadstead. Roadsteads can be natural or artificial, and are usually located in estuaries. In maritime law, a roadstead is described as a "known general station for ships".'
Thanks to Google, as discovered by Peter Johnson
About Tuesday 22 October 1661
San Diego Sarah • Link
It's printed in the L&M book, Louise, so there are no links. This will be the link going forward so we won't have to add the info again.
I'm sure you've noticed how much time and energy Terry has put into adding in this valuable information throughout the whole 9-1/2 years. Thank you, Terry. Now I don't have to check my own books every night.
As I suggested, putting basic background info like this into the Encyclopedia shares the info. without adding a spoiler.
About Wednesday 4 September 1667
San Diego Sarah • Link
CONCLUSION
Five minutes walk away at St. Mary Abchurch, Hugh and I climbed up ladders to admire the swags on the reredos closely. When these swags were first installed the pale lime wood stood in contrast to the dark oak background, throwing them into even more dramatic relief. This is what we imagine when we think of Grinling Gibbons – lush garlands of fruit, flowers and foliage that he carved in a manner which appeared more lifelike than had been seen before. Yet on close examination, it became evident that the definition of the leaves and fruit was only carved where it was visible, with the forms merging into abstraction away from view.
At St. Paul’s, we admired Grinling Gibbons majestic quire stalls and epic organ case before climbing up into the roof where trays of bits and pieces that have fallen off over the centuries are preserved. Like the most fascinating jigsaw in the world, here are thousands of fragments that all belong somewhere. Examining them closely revealed the breathtaking detail of the carving by Gibbons and his studio who were responsible for all the architectural decoration in the cathedral. Even the wings on the angels can be identified as derived from different species of birds, revealing the minute observation of the natural world that informs these bravura carvings.
As we left the cathedral, Hugh and I paused to look back at the west front and admire Gibbons’ lavish foliate adornments that provide such a successful counterpoint to the austerity of Wren’s geometry. Somehow the palm leaves on the Corinthian columns are more luxuriant that you might expect. Garlands of leaves and fruit have been hung directly across structural elements of the design, disrupting its formality.
The legend that Gibbons and Wren had a tense working relationship comes as no surprise because the conflict is evident in the dynamic between the two visual languages at play. Yet it is this dynamic between the classical geometry and the presence of organic forms that makes this architecture so compelling and alive. This is Gibbons’ contribution and one of many reasons why we should celebrate his genius.
https://spitalfieldslife.com/2024…
* I posted the story behind the font top last year at
https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…
About Wednesday 4 September 1667
San Diego Sarah • Link
Talking about Grinling Gibbons, according to The Gentle Author on the Spitalfield's blog, Gibbons immigrated to England in 1667 -- here's the story, but go to the blog for spectacular pictures:
In Search Of Grinling Gibbons
Master wood carver Hugh Wedderburn took me on a quest in search of Grinling Gibbons in the City of London. Gibbons was born in Rotterdam in 1648, where he trained as wood carver and was exposed to the art of Dutch still life painting before he came to Britain in 1667.
John Evelyn wrote in his diary in 1671, ‘I this day first acquainted with a young man Gibson [sic] whom I had lately found in an obscure place & that by mere accident, as I was walking neere a poor solitary thatched house in a field in our parish neere Says Court. I found him shut in but looking through the window I perceiv’d him carving that large cartoone or Crucifix of Tintoretto.’
John Evelyn arranged introductions for Grinling Gibbons to Charles II and Christopher Wren, enabling him to set up his workshop on Ludgate Hill – an auspicious and opportune location for a wood carver, beside the ruins of Old St. Paul’s.
It is significant that Evelyn described Gibbons carving from a 2-dimensional image, transforming it into physical form. Today Gibbons is recognised for his extraordinarily lifelike carvings of flowers, fruit and foliage, which bear a relationship to still life painting yet upon close examination are less naturalistic than they may at first appear.
From Hugh Wedderburn’s workshop in Southwark, we undertook our quest westward across the City, starting at the Tower of London to visit the Parade of Kings – a sequence of monarchs in armour on horseback – where a wooden horse is attributed to Gibbons and a portrait head of Charles I is by the same hand. While the other horses are lifeless merry-go-round figures, more mounts for armour than sculptures in their own right, it is easy to appreciate why this one particular horse might earn its attribution, with its lifelike flared nostrils and bulging veins visible through the skin. The accompanying head of Charles I possesses a soulful melancholy and presence, in stark contrast to the workmanlike nature of the others.
Just up the hill at All Hallows By The Tower, we admired the elaborate font * lid of foliage with two putti gesturing to the large bird atop the construction. When the lid is suspended up above the font for ceremonies and seen from below, it has proportion and balance with everything in place. Yet when it is lowered, the sculpture appears distorted and the putti’s anatomy bulges curiously. This is an example of carving in perspective and evidence of Gibbons’ sense of theatre, creating a visual effect that works from a single view point and is deliberately non-naturalistic.
About Tuesday 22 October 1661
San Diego Sarah • Link
In Terry's defense, "looking is your choice" here is as it is in the L&M books, where the footnotes appear on every page.
It's a century too late to censor those gentlemen who spent decades unravelling Pepys' references, for which I for one am very grateful.
My choice would have been to put L&M's comment on our Encyclopedia page rather than here, but Terry chose to mirror the book.
About Tuesday 30 April 1661
San Diego Sarah • Link
Archery Butts must have been all over the country, close to towns:
"Throughout the Middle Ages, English men were required by law to practice longbow archery — a mandate that was in place for longer than you might expect. Early laws encouraged practicing archery indirectly: Henry I, who ruled England from 1100 to 1135, declared that deaths accidentally caused by practicing archers didn’t count as murder or manslaughter. During the reign of Henry III, the 1252 Assize of Arms required that able-bodied men of a certain means between the ages of 15 and 60 be equipped with a bow and arrows and know how to use them — although residents of England’s royal forests had to practice with blunt arrows to protect the king’s game.
"In 1363, Edward III, who was in the midst of the Hundred Years’ War and convinced that archery skills were “almost wholly disused,” declared that able-bodied men must practice archery on holidays. The Archery Law, enacted that same year, further demanded practice on Sundays. Edward also outlawed, on pain of imprisonment, watching or participating in “vain games of no value,” a wide net that included handball, football, hurling stones, and cockfighting.
"Subsequent kings laid down similar acts: Richard II banned several games and required serfs and peasants to practice the longbow, and Edward IV set minimum imports for equipment. Henry VIII, after introducing several bans on games and tighter enforcement procedures earlier in his reign, passed one of the most notorious pro-archery laws of all in 1541: It nullified all previous acts, banned even more non-archery sports, and exempted wealthy people. In addition to requiring men under 60 (and, to a lesser extent, their male children) to own a certain amount of archery equipment, it empowered employers to garnish the wages of any servants who didn’t have it.
"The 1541 law was still on the books in bits and pieces until the 20th century, but England’s Betting and Gaming Act of 1960 finally nullified the last of the country’s longbow mandates.
"Yew longbows were exciting new military technology in medieval England, but archery has likely existed in one form or another since the Stone Age. Bows and arrows are often made of organic materials that don’t stand the test of time, but the earliest surviving evidence of the weapon is around 64,000 years old, discovered in Sibudu Cave in South Africa. Stone arrowheads found at the site have remnants of blood and bone on them, glue residue that could have been used to attach them to wooden shafts, and damage patterns consistent with being used as projectiles (versus signs of thrust, like would be seen on spears).
"Archery made an early appearance all over the world. Archaeologists found 48,000-year-old bone arrowheads in Sri Lanka’s Fa-Hien Lena cave in 2020, and 54,000-year-old arrowheads in France’s Grotte Mandrin in 2023."
https://historyfacts.com/world-hi…
About Sunday 20 October 1661
San Diego Sarah • Link
For those interested in the weather, the Rev. Ralph says "the season now wet, which is a mercy after so much drought." Obviously it's too late in the season for this year's crop, which must have been a worry for all.