Sometimes, it takes a little blasphemy to make a point.
An example of this comes in the form of an article from Stop Christian Nationalism about the absurd false history of America peddled by Christian Nationalists who like to pretend that the Constitution of the United States is based on the Bible. In fact, the Constitution was written in reaction against the totalitarian political philosophy inherent in the Christian Bible.
The author goes through the trouble of citing primary historical sources, including correspondence from Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and James Madison. There’s also loads of logical reasoning.
Still, with some readers, this stuff will go over their heads. So, along with the article comes a saucy satire of Christian Nationalist pseudohistory. It shows Jesus and George Washington exchanging a passionate kiss as “founding fathers”.
The image is purposefully blasphemous, and that’s what makes it powerful.
It’s a ridiculous idea to suppose that Jesus and George Washington could have ever shared a torrid homosexual love affair. It is equally silly to argue that the ancient mythology of the Bible has anything to do with the profoundly humanistic philosophy of the Constitution of the United States of America.
That’s the point of the image. It’s making a comment on the outrageous anachronism in the fake history of America’s founding cobbled together by Christian Nationalists.
The blasphemy of the image makes another sharp point to accompany the article: In the United States of America, we are free to respect or disrespect whatever religion we want.
Blasphemy laws are tools of religious autocrats whose ideology is so absurd that it cannot withstand any mockery. The presence of blasphemy is a sign of a healthy democratic society.
