Blasphemy Laws

                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                              

"...they...called upon the name of Baal from morning until noon, saying, 'O Baal, answer us!' But there was no voice, and no one answered. And they limped around the altar that they had made.  And at noon Elijah mocked them, saying, 'Cry aloud, for he is a god. Either he is musing, or he is relieving himself, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep and must be awakened.'..."     I Kings 18:26-7

Baal was a false god.  His priests' idea of God could not be otherwise than false.

So Baal's priests believed they had to defend their god by their own futile and puny actions.  Elijah's God proved more than capable of defending Himself.

In Muslim-majority Indonesia, a Christian politician was recently convicted of blaspheming against the Quran.  Maybe the court felt that they had to defend the god of the Quran because they knew in their hearts their "god" could not.

Maybe he was busy relieving himself.