The competition between religions for converts is competition among memes. Look at the number of bizarre little cults and would-be prophets among humans today; multiply that by 6,000 years or so of recorded history, and it's no wonder some of them have turned out to be world-shapingly successful.
The exact formula for a successful religion is different for different religions, places and times. But it doesn't stretch the imagination to think that violent suppression of expressions of disbelief, doubt, or disrespect might be part of a formula that allows a religion to spread and maintain power.
In other words, maybe religions that don't have prohibitions against blasphemy are quickly torn apart by heretics and skeptics -- or at least limited in size and power.
This isn't a justification of blasphemy prohibitions; it's merely an explanation of why a successful religion (in terms of number of believers) might have such a rule: because the rule is what causes the success.
> it's merely an explanation of why a successful religion (in terms of number of believers) might have such a rule: because the rule is what causes the success.
That would be a sad statement for a religion. But it also points directly to the problem. If a religion is successful only as far as it is able to control people, it is not actually very useful.
Most religions do have extremely useful core concepts. That is true for Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, etc. If we could just step back to recognize these core concepts all of "this" would just go away...
The exact formula for a successful religion is different for different religions, places and times. But it doesn't stretch the imagination to think that violent suppression of expressions of disbelief, doubt, or disrespect might be part of a formula that allows a religion to spread and maintain power.
In other words, maybe religions that don't have prohibitions against blasphemy are quickly torn apart by heretics and skeptics -- or at least limited in size and power.
This isn't a justification of blasphemy prohibitions; it's merely an explanation of why a successful religion (in terms of number of believers) might have such a rule: because the rule is what causes the success.