A New Jersey jury in 1887 convicted a former Methodist minister for
blasphemy despite a passion defense by leading attorney and freethinker
Robert Ingersoll, who argued blasphemy laws enslaved the human mind
Blasphemy and Profane Speech
These are First Amendment cases related to free speech and blasphemy or profane speech. Blasphemy laws have disappeared in the United States, but their remnants led to some early cases involving the First Amendment.
In 1824, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court upheld a blasphemy conviction
against a man who said the Bible was full of fables and lies. In Updegraph
v. Commonwealth, the court reasoned that Christianity was part of common
law, and the law only punished those who disturbed the peace or provoked
others to the same.