FFRF Regional Government Affairs Manager Mickey Dollens has written an op-ed that has been published in both the PennLive Patriot-News newspaper and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
“Here’s a fascinating piece of Pennsylvania history most people don’t know: The state still has an anti-blasphemy law on the books that dates back to the 1700s,” Dollens begins. The state is one of just six states with anti-blasphemy laws on the books, including Massachusetts, Michigan, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Wyoming. “These outdated statutes originate from America’s colonial era, before the U.S. Constitution, when church and state were entangled and religious orthodoxy was enforced by law.”
Dollens continues, detailing the malicious usage of the law, and its concerning underpinnings for residents of these six states:
You might assume statutes like this are forgotten “blue laws” never enforced in modern times. But in Pennsylvania, enforcement happened as recently as 2010. George Kalman attempted to register a film production company named “I Choose Hell Productions.” State officials rejected his application because Pennsylvania statute says corporation names are not allowed to be “blasphemous.”
Thankfully, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania stepped in. The court ruled that the state’s enforcement of its blasphemy statute violated the First Amendment, which protects freedom of speech and religion.
And yet, to this day, the unconstitutional law remains on the statute books.
Why? Not because anyone is defending it. Not because it’s needed. But because no one has taken the time to repeal it.
Leaving laws like this in place sends the wrong message. It tells Pennsylvanians that their rights are conditional, that religious speech is protected, but religious dissent can still be punished. And it leaves open the possibility that someone could misuse the law again, especially since the U.S. Supreme Court has shown a willingness to rewrite constitutional law in favor of religious litigants.
Even conservative evangelical politicians agree that blasphemy laws are wrong. In 2020, U.S. Senator James Lankford introduced a bipartisan Senate resolution calling for the global repeal of blasphemy laws. The resolution condemned foreign governments that jail or persecute individuals for religious speech and non belief. It passed unanimously in the Senate and was also approved in the House by a vote of 386–3.
That kind of rare, overwhelming support shows that protecting religious expression, including the freedom to question or reject religion, is a shared American value across party lines.
It’s also worth noting that faith-based religious liberty advocates, including the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, support repealing blasphemy laws. They recognize and acknowledge what the founders believed: true religious freedom requires the freedom to criticize, question, reject religion and speak freely without fear of censorship or punishment.
The piece concludes with a call to action, urging states to continue on a path towards progress by rejecting unnecessary laws: “Complete the constitutional work the federal court began in 2010. Repealing the state’s blasphemy law would bring its legal code in line with established precedent and reaffirm its commitment to both religious liberty and freedom of expression for all.”
You can read the full op-ed through either of the available sources.
This column is part of FFRF’s initiative to engage with pertinent national and state issues and spread the messages of freethought and nontheism to a broader audience.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a national nonprofit organization with over 42,000 members nationwide, including more than 1,300 members in Pennsylvania. FFRF’s purposes are to protect the constitutional principle of separation between church and state, and to educate the public on matters relating to nontheism.
