'Believe in thine...or pay a $300 fine'
Because of its history of being one of the first colonies established in the US, along with its Puritan heritage, Massachusetts is known for having a laundry list of insane laws, such as making illegal acts like gargling in public and letting a duck wear boots. Along with the inconvenience of not being able to buy booze in grocery stores, it's also inconvenient to be someone who happens to not believe in God. According to Chapter 272 Section 36 of the General Laws of Massachusetts (which is a riveting read):
"Whoever wilfully blasphemes the holy name of God by denying, cursing or contumeliously reproaching God, his creation, government or final judging of the world, or by cursing or contumeliously reproaching Jesus Christ or the Holy Ghost, or by cursing or contumeliously reproaching or exposing to contempt and ridicule, the holy word of God contained in the holy scriptures shall be punished by imprisonment in jail for not more than one year or by a fine of not more than three hundred dollars, and may also be bound to good behavior."
Obviously, no lawmaker in Mass. would ever enforce this crazy law but it's never been proposed to be taken off the books either. Now keep in mind that Massachusetts is where the outbreak of priest molestations took place and that these offending priests were essentially let off the hook. So the line of logic goes:
Diddling a little boy = OK
Not believing in a completely unbelievable scenario that's never been intellectually proven in any way=ILLEGAL. Ahh, it makes perfect sense.
It's ironic that Massachusetts is looked at as a liberal's paradise when we don't bother repealing nonsense laws that basically repudiate everything that the country was supposed to stand for. But I guess we were supposed to stand for freedom OF religion, not freedom FROM religion. Well, you always have the Czech Republic.
"Whoever wilfully blasphemes the holy name of God by denying, cursing or contumeliously reproaching God, his creation, government or final judging of the world, or by cursing or contumeliously reproaching Jesus Christ or the Holy Ghost, or by cursing or contumeliously reproaching or exposing to contempt and ridicule, the holy word of God contained in the holy scriptures shall be punished by imprisonment in jail for not more than one year or by a fine of not more than three hundred dollars, and may also be bound to good behavior."
Obviously, no lawmaker in Mass. would ever enforce this crazy law but it's never been proposed to be taken off the books either. Now keep in mind that Massachusetts is where the outbreak of priest molestations took place and that these offending priests were essentially let off the hook. So the line of logic goes:
Diddling a little boy = OK
Not believing in a completely unbelievable scenario that's never been intellectually proven in any way=ILLEGAL. Ahh, it makes perfect sense.
It's ironic that Massachusetts is looked at as a liberal's paradise when we don't bother repealing nonsense laws that basically repudiate everything that the country was supposed to stand for. But I guess we were supposed to stand for freedom OF religion, not freedom FROM religion. Well, you always have the Czech Republic.
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