Talking within a Christian context, is blasphemy the same as sacrilege? Does it apply only to God (tripartite or otherwise) or would it be blasphemous, say, to scrawl obscenities but without any reference to God over an altar? Does it apply to other biblical figures such as the Virgin Mary or Saint Paul. Presumably it would be blasphemous to spit out the communion wafer and stamp on it in a Catholic church, but would it be so in an Anglican church? Do we still gave a blasphemy law in their country? Why isn't it blasphemous for the pope to downgrade a saint? Surely he can't claim infallibility when he is undoing something done by a previous (infallible) pope?
I have never really thought about this before and have no idea why it has come into my head today, but I should really like to know.
Last weekend, in Rutland, the first statue in Britain of the late Elizabeth II was unveiled.