So This is Blasphemy? I'll be Darned

The Center for Inquiry (CFI), one of the leading organizations promoting secular humanism, stirred the pot a bit last September when it announced a "Blasphemy Contest" on the occasion of the first annual Blasphemy Day, on Sept. 30.

Entrants were challenged "to create a phrase, poem, or statement that [is] considered blasphemous" in 20 words or less. "Blasphemy" is defined on the site as "the act of denying or scoffing at God or God's alleged attributes."

The contest drew 1,000 entries from 650 participants and, as we reported, it drew fire from within the atheist community, including withering criticism from CFI founder and former head Paul Kurtz, who said it promoted ridicule for the sake of ridicule. "Vulgar antics," he called the contest, a jab that set off a sharp exchange with Kurtz's successor, current CFI president Ronald A. Lindsay.

Still, the contest went on. CFI said it wanted "clever, concise statements that might capture some of the flaws of religious beliefs. CFI was not interested in crude attacks on believers." Overall, the group said in a statement, "CFI was not disappointed in quality of the entries."

And after a rigorous judging process the winner has been announced. He is...Ken Peters of California! With his winning entry:

"Faith is no reason."

So, would that be enough to get you burned at the stake even in the darkest of ages? Well, Ronald Lindsay liked it. "This entry, using only four words, summarizes nicely one of the key principles of post-Enlightenment thought. Beliefs should be based on evidence and reason. Faith is not a basis for logically sound belief."

There were also four runners-up:

-- "There's no religion like no religion," submitted by Daniel Boles of Thailand;
-- "I wouldn't even follow your god on Twitter," submitted by Michael Hein of South Carolina;
-- "The reason religious beliefs need protection from ridicule is that they are ridiculous," submitted by Michael Nugent of Ireland; and
-- "I survived the God virus," submitted by Perry Bulwer of British Columbia, Canada.

I like the Twitter one myself, which could be seen to play off the notion that one could believe -- or blaspheme -- in 140 characters or less. Besides, it tries to be funny. (You can follow CFI on Twitter, too. That seems reasonable.)

CFI's Web site also lists several honorable mentions, and Lindsay manages to get in another jab at Kurtz by including a joke Kurtz told earlier this month about a priest and a nun golfing, which included a barnyard epithet and a bolt of lightning. (Not to give it all away, but you get the drift.) The joke was something you might hear a bishop tell, and it was well over 20 words. And Kurtz wanted nothing to do with the contest. "But, hey, it's our contest," as the CFI statement said.

So take that.

In any case, none of the winners are exactly in the same rank as "Ecrasez l'infame" or "God is dead" or even "We're more popular than Jesus."

But then neither Voltaire, Nietzsche, nor John Lennon got what the CFI is offering its top five winners: their submission printed on the CFI T-shirt.

Ken Peters, the grand prize winner, also gets a bonus: A mug printed with the winning phrase, plus, as CFI says, "recognition in Free Inquiry magazine, general publicity, and, naturally, eternal damnation."

Now that's blasphemous.