Do you have a hard time keeping track of religious holidays? One may take for granted that few people would know that September 30 is the feast day of St. Jerome, Priest and Doctor, without consulting a liturgical calendar. But now, the Center for Inquiry wants to claim September 30 for a day of its own: Blasphemy Day. The Center for Inquiry claims that its mission “is to foster a secular society based on science, reason, freedom of inquiry, and humanist values.” Apparently it intends to establish that secular society through asinine behavior.

For the sake of discussion, consider the Center’s recommended activities for Blasphemy Day:

Free Speech demonstration in a public area of campus.  Some ideas:
90-Second Megaphone: Anyone can come up and use the megaphone for 90 seconds to say anything, no matter how blasphemous or offensive.  (You could also use a soapbox-style small platform for the speakers.)
Post-It Board display: Anyone can come up throughout the day to write on a Post-It note that is then stuck to a display board for the day.
Blasphemous Art Display: Partner with the college Art Department, or with art students, and have a blasphemous art show or demonstration in a public area on campus.
Blasphemy Game Night: Host a social game night with the games "Blasphemy: The Race to the Cross" and "Playing Gods: The Board Game of Divine Domination"; or, you can create your own Blasphemy Pictionary and Blasphemy Charades.
Deity Drawing Contest: This is well-suited to tabling in a public area.  Provide basic drawing supplies (crayons, pencils, paper) for a contest where the best drawing of a deity wins a prize!  Drawings can, of course, be of deities like the Flying Spaghetti Monster, Zeus, or Cthulu.  Make sure to collect names and contact information for each submission so that the winner can be contacted.
Soul Exchange: Invite people to trade their souls for some delicious home-baked cookies.
Pascal's Wager Wheel: Create a spinner labeled with different gods.  Then, invite passers-by to spin the wheel to find out which deity Pascal's wager applies to for that person.

If the goal of the Center for Inquiry was to generate as much anger as possible while not convincing anyone, then Blasphemy Day is right on target. However, since the Center for Inquiry has decided to camp its sophomoric piffle right on top of a saint’s day, consider, for a moment,  the following observances which CatholicCulture.org proposes for the feast of St. Jerome:

Things to Do:

Jerome had a violent temper and was very strong-willed. He made a lot of enemies because of his temperament. To overcome these faults, he prayed and did penance. His canonization shows us that canonized saints aren't perfect, but have faults just like us. They just worked on them and cooperated with grace more fully to overcome them. What faults do we have that we need to work more diligently on overcoming?

St. Jerome was a wonderful spiritual director, especially for women. It is important to have a spiritual director to grow in the spiritual life. Find out what a director can do for you, and make some arrangements for one.

The Bible was of utmost importance in Jerome's life and should be in ours. Make a point to read the Bible daily. Jerome was known to say that ignorance of Scriptures is ignorance of Christ.

So, weigh the respective list of observances, and ask yourself which one is more elevating of the human spirit. But wait: Presumably, given their secular humanist commitments, the folks at the Center for Inquiry are mechanistic materialists and would think that human beings are only robots made out of meat whose actions are determined according to the irresistible impulses of biochemistry. Therefore, they wouldn’t be interested in elevating the nonexistent spirit, would they? And since "virtue," according to such a worldview, must ultimately have no higher origin than man’s changable opinions, and man is only a meat-robot, what values is a “humanist” society built on, anyway? And how does a chemically predestined meat-robot have “freedom of inquiry”?

Jerome, struggling with his faults and seeking guidance from a wisdom nobler than any which resided within himself, sounds like a more fitting guide any day of the year than the sad antics prescribed for Blasphemy day.

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Lee Gonzales said:

Saint Jerome Father, you gave Saint Jerome delight in his study of holy Scripture. May your people find in your word the food of salvation and the fountain of life. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

September 30, 2009

Paul said:

Is this why we have freedom of speech? It's a shame that this is what the great American Ideals of freedom of speech, and beliefs, is now being used(/misused?) for. To further an ideology based on "science, reason and freedom of enquiry" this group suggests doing everything possible to offend and disrespect anyone who believes contrary to what they do? That sounds like one of the most unreasonable, closed minded and wholly biased ideas I've ever heard. Not to mention UnAmerican.

September 30, 2009

Flu-Bird said:

Evil liberals So the NEA paying tousands of dollars for blasphmous art like showing a picture of christ submurged in urine or the virgin mary done in elephant poop are hailed as master peices of art and even a pagan idol of the quetzalcuatyle and devil art everywhere but you still can have a nativity in a public place

September 30, 2009

Bruce said:

Not Being Good Atheists A good atheist doesn't cuss or engage in "blasphemy" using religious reference. That would be falsely granting the existence of some god or supernatural. Cussing and "blasphemy" are actually vices for a true atheist.

September 30, 2009

Lance Bush said:

Blasphemy Day is a brilliant idea What almost everyone here fails to realize is the real point of blasphemy day: Free speech laws, and society's taboos, both protect religion and religious beliefs, in particular, over other sorts of beliefs. In other words, it is considered particularly wrong, and in many places illegal, to insult a point of view *simply because it is a religious one*. This is an anti-liberal and deeply unfair attitude for people to hold, and it is far worse when it is codified in the law. Second, blasphemy day advocates do not insult simply because they want to hurt people's feelings. They insult to exercise the right of free speech in the very area it is threatened most: by the protection afforded to religious views in particular. Ireland recently passed a law making it ILLEGAL to commit blasphemy. This is a clear violation of free speech. The point of Blasphemy Day is not to offend, it is to make the point that we have a right to offend, IF we want, and that the right to free speech entails the right to say things that may be hurtful to others, and that this right, even with this implication, is so important that it is far worse to take it away from us out of "respect" and "tolerance".

October 08, 2009 | url

Lance Bush said:

Hi Flu-Bird Flu-Bird, the restrictions on nativity scenes are restrictions on it being used on public property. In other words, the GOVERNMENT can't endorse Christianity. CFI would readily agree that it would be just as wrong to put images and scenery promoting atheism on taxpayer's land as it would imagines supporting Christianity. You're welcome to have all the nativity scenes you want - just not use other people's tax-paid land to do it.

October 08, 2009 | url