By Justin Kirk Houser. 114 Penn St. L. Rev. 571.
On May 10, 1836, as they were going about their daily business in New Castle County, Delaware, numerous citizens were shocked and alarmed to hear Thomas Jefferson Chandler exclaim in a loud voice, “The Virgin Mary was a whore, and Jesus Christ was a bastard!” The moral outrage of the community was directed at Chandler, and he was arrested. Following conviction in county court, he appealed his case to the Delaware Court of General Sessions. The court affirmed Chandler’s conviction, and upheld the constitutionality of the crime of blasphemy. The court found that one who attacked the doctrines of Christianity “struck at the foundation of . . . civil society,” because “the religion of the people of Delaware is christian.” The court opined that the people had a right to enjoy their chosen religion “without interruption or disturbance,” for which “they may claim the protection of law guarantied [sic] to them by the constitution itself.” [keep reading]