Blasphemy

Any expression by word, sign, or gesture that is insulting to the goodness of God is viewed as blasphemy by the Church. In the USA, the common law offence of blasphemy is perpetrated through the verbal publication of words intended to impair or destroy man's reverence for God and religion, by subjecting belief in the deity, scriptures or religious doctrines to derision and vilification, If the blasphemous words are written or printed, they constitute blasphemous libel, as do pictorial caricatures which convey a blasphemous meaning.

In 1994 a senior UN human rights investigator was accused of blasphemy by the Sudanese government after the release of a report critical of the human rights record in Sudan which focused on the incidence of extra-judicial executions and torture and highlighted inconsistencies between the Islamic legislation adopted by the government and the international human rights standards which it had accepted. In India bars are often called by names of Hindu deities. In 1993 Hindu fundamentalists deemed this inappropriate and blasphemous, especially when used for commercial reasons.