Legal Dictionary of Pakistan

blasphemy

n. Irreverence toward God, religion, a religious icon, or something considered sacred. 0 Blasphemy was a crime at common law and remains so in some U.S. jurisdictions, but it is rarely if ever enforced because of its questionable constitutionality under the First Amendment. - blaspheme (blasfeem or blas-feem), ub. - blasphemous (blas-fa-mas), adj. - blasphemer, (blas-feemar), n."Blasphemy is the malicious revilement of God and religion. In England blasphemy was the malicious revilement of the Christian religion .... Blasphemy has been held to be a common-law crime [in the United States] because of its tendency to stir up breaches of the peace. It is expressly made punishable by some of the statutes." Rollin M. Perkins & Ronald N. Boyce, Criminal Law 474, 475 (3d ed. 1982).