In Custodia Legis: “The following is a guest post by Ryan Gale, an intern with the Digital Resources Division of the Law Library of Congress. He is an undergraduate student studying philosophy and theology at The Catholic University of America.The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution prohibits the government’s establishment of a religion and protects the freedoms of religion and speech. Blasphemy laws – laws restricting the act of insulting or showing contempt for religion, or lack of reverence for sacred things – are often seen today as a violation of the right to free speech and religion. However, for much of the nation’s history, this type of speech was “classed blasphemy with obscenity and libel, as speech unprotected by the First Amendment or its state counterparts.” Laws banning blasphemy, specifically related to Christianity, were prevalent throughout the states around the time of America’s founding, even though most states had their own free speech and religious freedom protections in their state constitutions. For example, in the 1780s and 1790s, Massachusetts, New Hampshire (pp. 721-22), and New Jersey all passed blasphemy laws even though part 1, article II, part 1, article 5, and article 18 of their respective constitutions had religious freedom protections…” [h/t Pete Weiss]