"Reading blasphemous material" — what does that mean, exactly?

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Hello,

On at least a couple of online examination of conscience lists, I’ve seen something along the lines of “reading blasphemous materials” as a mortal sin against the Second Commandment.

I don’t doubt this for a minute. However, I want to know what’s understood to be “blasphemous material”. Would an otherwise-neutral book that has someone taking The Lord’s Name in vain count as blasphemous reading, or would the book have to have an inherently blasphemous intent (e.g., a screed against the Church)? I try to avoid either, but knowing what distinction (if any) exists would be beneficial.

(I’d imagine the same principles apply to other forms of media, too. My mind just keeps coming back to literature and reading.)

Thank you. God Bless.
 
Since when is reading considered to be even remotely possibly a sin ? That has to be the silliest thing ever contrived. Maybe if the world was taken over by Nazi Germany in WWII or if one lived in some part of the Middle East where Islam is very strict and was caught with a religious book that wasnt the Quran or deemed something " evil " then perhaps that would be something to worry about.

But since when does reading a view point different than what the Catholic Church teaches or Books that where ommitted from the Bible, become blasphemous and or sinful ?

{ disclaimer, this is a question for the original poster, not an attack on anyone or the Church, trying to twist what i say will not encourage me to respond nor will i engage in baiting or arguing, feel free to disagree, ignore me or flag what I have to say , im not bothered }
 
I think this is a case where you have to use your noggin:

Are you reading the material because it is blasphemous and you are taking pleasure in the blasphemy? Probably a mortal sin.

Are you reading the material knowing it to have blasphemy in it and you keep reading anyway because the rest is enjoyable? Probably not a mortal sin, but maybe not very good either.

Are you reading the material and some blasphemy happens to show up and you ignore it and focus on the “good” parts? Probably not a mortal sin, but maybe not the best idea.

We should practice custody of the mind, and contrary to popular opinion, that does mean foregoing some otherwise entertaining material. We should always be asking ourselves “does this help me get to Heaven?” And we also should generally not think of sin as a “if it’s not mortal then it is okay” kind of thing.

Taking the Lord’s name in vain is blasphemous, but clearly it would usually be to a lesser degree than writing a screed against the Lord. Does one GD mean the entire book is trash? I don’t know. It is probably best to avoid it all.
 
Honestly? Don’t ask me. Until I read things to the contrary, I never considered it sinful to read anything. I can understand avoiding deliberate and outright blasphemy (e.g., something that was written to attack God or His Church), but the lack of elaboration on what constitutes “blasphemous reading” has left me confused. What I just described would definitely count, imo, and it’s not going to be helpful to me (at least) to read these texts anyway. I should avoid that kind of literature. However, some texts that are otherwise neutral or even important in some way might contain a “throwaway” use or two of the Lord’s Name in vain. While that’s hugely unappealing to me regardless of it being mortally wrong or not, I have a bit of a hard time seeing it as being exactly on the same level as something meant to be irreverent and desultory at its core.

For what it’s worth, I do like reading about other viewpoints, as long as they’re presented respectfully. Even extra-canonical books could be insightful—if not for their accuracy (which I’m sure they lack), then at least for their role in Church history. It’s when things become contemptuous that I begin to have a problem.

So, again, I don’t really know. All I know is that what constitutes blasphemy is seldom well-elaborated in far too many contexts—which is a disservice to everybody, really. :woman_shrugging:t3:

God Bless!
 
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Thank you for your thoughtful reply. From what little elaboration I’ve seen on this specific topic, that’s more-or-less the wisdom I’ve seen. God Bless!
 
“Reading” blasphemous material would be assuming that the reader is assenting to the blasphemous parts of the material.

There are also important distinctions between novels and persuasive writing. You don’t want everything you read to be sanitized so that you aren’t getting any depth into the human condition. The results of doing that would be much worse than the risk of reading anything blasphemous.

These sorts of sanitized, black and white viewpoints can be found a lot here on CAF. They lack depth, understanding, and are dominated by phobia.
 
Thank you! That’s a very insightful answer. God Bless!
 
Many people think any song or movie or pierce of art with just the word “Satan” or “evil” is blasphemous, and it’s silly really. People can enjoy rated R movies, music, etc, as an escape or pure fantasy or work of fiction without feeling guilty as it is not real.
 
The Catholic Church previously used to compile an index of forbidden books that were considered to either promote heretical positions (works on this list included De revolutionibus orbium cœlestium by Copernicus as well as Galileo’s Dialogo sopra i due massimi sistemi del mondo ) or were overtly sexual.

Today some religious orders like Opus Dei continue to do this, by rating all published books on a scale of 1 (fine for a child to read) to 6 (can only be read by explicit permission by the head office in Rome). This is done because of a concern that the mind should only imbibe material in line with Catholic teaching to reduce the chance of being led astray. Opus Dei’s full list from 2003 is available online and there are 6,892 books on that list with the highest rating of “6.” Examples of authors who have some books with a “6” rating are Woody Allen, Karen Armstrong, Margaret Attwood, Ayn Rand and Hans Kung,

You can download the index here ODAN – ODAN Opus Dei Awareness Network
 
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That ODAN.org site seems to be very negative on Opus Dei. I realize Opus Dei has had some controversy associated with it and may not be for everyone, but I’m still suspicious of a site that is characterizing it as a cult. Do you have another source regarding the book list?

Also, the pronouncements of Opus Dei or any individual subgroup on what can be read does not automatically impart to the entire church. One can assume that a religious order, which controls many daily activities of its members who voluntarily join, would also control their reading. Those of us who aren’t members are not bound by the rules or preferences of an order.
 
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Tis_Bearself said:
Do you have another source regarding the book list?
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Yep Opus-Info - Índice de libros prohibidos

Two reasons I shared that link is because Opus Dei isn’t very active in the English Speaking world as it is in the Spanish, hence most of their material hasn’t actually been translated yet. Also there are strict prohibitions as to what numinaries (members of Opus Dei) may say about the order. While it’s far from ideal because of their secretive nature almost all of what we know about the workings of Opus Dei comes from former members. Possibly they do have axes to grind, but Opus Dei does agree they have a banned book list and have never denied the list from 2003 is false and have confirmed a small number of books like Rand’s _Atlas Shrugged_are on it.
Tis_Bearself said:
Also, the pronouncements of Opus Dei or any individual subgroup on what can be read does not automatically impart to the entire church. One can assume that a religious order, which controls many daily activities of its members who voluntarily join, would also control their reading. Those of us who aren’t members are not bound by the rules or preferences of an order.
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Oh I know that, but I’m just sharing a modern example of what a Church approved group considers to be sinful reading. Rather like reading the life of a saint, they might not be 100% right on everything but it might be a good baseline to work from.
 
I guess if one felt in need of a baseline, one could refer to it. I like St. Josemaria Escriva, but decided a while back that Opus Dei was not for me for other reasons, so I’m not terribly interested in having them tell me what to read or not. I have a conscience and if necessary, priests in the confessional.
 
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