Blasphemy laws – laws restricting the act of insulting or showing contempt for religion, or lack of reverence for sacred things – were prevalent throughout the states around the time of America’s founding.

However, today only six states retain such laws (MA, MI, OK, PA, SC, WY) and enforcement has long since ended as courts regularly ruled that 1st Amendment rights to free speech supersede such laws.

The last person in the US to be jailed for blasphemy was Abner Kneeland, a Universalist minister turned rationalist, convicted in MA in 1838 for publishing content that denied the existence of God and Jesus.

Earlier this week, President Trump posted the image below, which some allege to be blasphemous because Trump is portrayed as Jesus. Trump took down the post down but denies the allegations, saying he was portrayed as a doctor.

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In Europe, blasphemy enforcement has likewise declined in the modern era, though not to the same extent as in the US.

Ireland passed a new blasphemy law in 2010 (repealed in 2018), Denmark did likewise in 2023, and there have been some recent high-profile prosecutions including in 2018 when the European Court of Human Rights upheld a conviction against an Austrian woman for calling the Prophet Muhammad a pedophile.

The image below is a 2014 cartoon from French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. Its headline says "If Muhammad returned...," while depicting an ISIS militant about to behead Muhammad saying "Shut your mouth, infidel," while Muhammad says "I'm the prophet you moron!" A year later, two Algerian Muslims shot and killed twelve people in Hebdo's offices over cartoons such as this one, which they deemed blasphemous. 

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In 2009, Oregon-based artist Derek Murphy painted Happy Meal, which some deemed blasphemous for the depiction of the Buddha as a satisfied McDonald's customer and the crosses on the fries and soda.

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