Blasphemy Laws Are Blasphemy

Around 60 years ago, a young, recently fired Old Testament professor received a scolding from his mentor, the man who had supervised his dissertation. The younger man had gone sideways from more conservative people in his denomination, the Southern Baptist Convention, for writing a commentary on Genesis that questioned the factual reliability of the Bible’s first book. His mentor was furious, the younger man reflected later, that he had written the book—but not for the same reasons pastors were outraged.