I guess you'd call me a church-goin' man. I spent 8 years in a Catholic seminary and got a degree in Theology, and I've worked in the church ever since, usually as a religion teacher. With those credentials, I hereby declare the song non-blasphemous. My Catholic Encyclopedia says this: Athough in English this originally meant any injurious words or statements, it has come to mean explicitly words or actions dishonoring God or words or actions of irreverence against God. Nope, the song doesn't fit the definition. It makes people think, however; and some may consider that dangerous.

It seems to me that the word "blasphemy" is thrown about most often by those who are self-righteous about their beliefs, and I always seem to detect a strong flavor of hatefulness in that sort of people. I remember going to see the film The Last Temptation of Christ, walking through a shouting line of picketers who condemned a movie they hadn't seen as "blasphemous." I thought it was a pretty good movie, although perhaps a bit too pious and possibly too timid in expressing the ideas Nikos Kazantzakis had expressed so powerfully in the book.

A few years ago, there was a television series called Nothing Sacred, which was the most realistic representation of Catholic parish life I've seen. The right-wingers called "blasphemy" and flooded the network with complaints and threats of boycotts. I think the show was cancelled because of poor ratings, but it's a shame it disappeared so quickly.

I found Mickey's song inspiring and thought-provoking. Of course, I also like Rosselson's Stand Up For Judas.

The MP3 on Mickey's Website (click) seems to work OK now, although I wasn't able to play it on Windows Media Player and had to use RealPlayer for it. You may have better luck if you right-click on the link and choose "save targat as" to download it. I added line breaks to the lyrics Mickey posted, and put in italics so you can tell which singer is singing what. Hope that's OK.
-Joe Offer-