1. Definition
Since the 13th century, theologians and jurists have defined blasphemy as defamation of God. They have distinguished analytically between several types of blasphemy: ascribing something to God that does not befit him (such as a body), lessening his omnipotence, or ascribing to creatures something proper only to God [12. 21 ff.]. In all cases, however, the central idea was public defamation of the Creator and his saints. Apart from the exc…