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What is blasphemy? Biblically, blasphemy is speaking disrespectfully of the Almighty. One of the highest forms of blasphemy is to insult his name as I will point out later.
It has already shown that the basis of morality is the Almighty, since he is the supreme authority of the universe. So it follows naturally on that disrespecting that Authority figure is a crime, and that since he is a supreme authority, direct direspect of him is a high crime. Let's see out this is played out in the Scriptures. The first really obvious occasion of blasphemy is recorded in Leviticus 24.
(10) And the son of an Israeli woman (and he was the son of an Egyptian man), went out among the children of Israel; and the son of the Israelitish woman and an Israeli man quarrelled in the camp. (11) And the son of the Israelitish woman blasphemed the Name, and cursed; and they brought him to Moses. And his mother's name was Shelomith, the daughter of Divri, of the tribe of Dan. (12) And they set him down in the prison, that it might be explained to them by the mouth of YHWH. (13) And YHWH spoke to Moses, saying: (14) 'Bring out the one that cursed to [the] outside of the camp; and let all that heard [him] lay their hands upon his head, and let all the congregation stone him. (15) And to the children of Israel, you shall speak, saying: any person that curses his Deity, then he shall bear his sin. (16) And he that blasphemes the name of YHWH, he shall surely be put to death; all the congregation shall certainly stone him; as the sojourner, so the home-born, when he blasphemes the Name, he shall be put to death. (Leviticus 24:10-16)
Let me point out the aspects of this passage that are relevant for anyone reading. First, you should note that the person who did the blaspheming had an Israeli mother and an Egyptian father, but the scripture refuses to call him an Israelite. It calls the man he fought "an Israeli man", and it says that this son of the Israeli woman went "among the children of Israel", but it avoids calling him an Israelite. It is most likely because he was not an Israelite. The Israelites were grouped by their father's house, in their different tribes (Numbers 2:2). But on the outskirts of the Israeli camp, there lived the "mixed multitude", a group of foreigners that had accompanied Israel as they left Egypt. It is from there that this guy came to walk among the children of Israel. This is important because if he wasn't an Israelite, then he was a non-Israelite making this law all the more universal.
Also verse 15 and 16 tell us that any person who curses his Deity shall be guilty, whether they be a sojourner (a non-Israelite), or a native Israeli.
All of these facts together make this passage universal in scope when it comes to doing something displeasing in the eyes of the Almighty, but I explained it in a very "karaite" fashion, just using scripture alone. And I am not alone in this conclusion, with even the Jewish Encyclopedia, a publication not friendly to Karaite ideology, agreeing with me (see their article on "Blasphemy" at http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=1119&letter=B&search=blasphemy). Thus we are going on the premise that nationality is based on the father, not the mother as rabbinical Judaism claims.
For those who do adhere to rabbinical thinking on this passage, i.e., claiming that nationality is based on the mother and that the Hebrew word for sojourner in this case means a full convert to Judaism (via circumcision), then there is still an aspect of the passage that makes it universal, and I quote from a noahide, rabbinically oriented, source:
Leviticus 24:10-17 relates the incident of a Jew who violated the injunction of Exodus 22:27 and blasphemed in anger, and the Divine edict proclaiming this to be a capital offense. Moreover, it states there "ish ish (any man) who curses his G-d shall bear his sin." Why the double expression of ish ish (literally: a man, a man)? To include all mankind, Jews and Gentiles. This demonstrates that blasphemy thus is prohibited to Gentiles as a capital offense even as it is for Jews. (Sanhedrin 56a) (The article called "Locate [Biblical] Sources" at http://www.asknoah.org/LocateSources.html
Thus we have a passage in the Torah which, no matter how you take it, is a prohibition on blasphemy, speaking disrespectfully or in an insulting manner of Deity.
Now there is still a chance that someone will come and say: "hey, wait there, David! A sojourner biblically is someone who lives among Israelites/Jews. And that guy you just talked about was still the child of an Israelite mother, so he's not totally disassociated from Israel. So you haven't really shown that this verse is for everyone." Firstly, it is very easy to understand this sort of thinking. Sometimes it seems like the law of Israel is only for Israel and us gentiles really don't have a clear principle for ourselves. Let's say that we are not sojourners in Israel (i.e. the Hebrew term is גֵ(י)ר, a ger or geyr) and just full on foreigners going about our own business in our own lands. What is there about blasphemy that has something to do with us?
It is challenges like the one presented above that really help test and strengthen our thinking. But there are still biblical examples that show that blasphemy is wrong even for non-Israelites. Remember, we are talking about biblical examples here. It has already been shown logically that if Deity is the supreme authority then to insult that authority is wrong. But let's buttress (meaning, reinforce, make stronger) that argument with the word from that ultimate authority, namely, the Scriptures.
In 2 Kings 18:17-37 (reflected in Isaiah 36), the servant of the Assyrian king (thus a non-Israelite) came to Judah and Jerusalem and launched a speech about the inadequacies of Judah and its Deity. He went so far as to compare Yahweh with all the other deities of the other nations, claiming that He was worshipped via Israel's idolatrous practices in the high places. He even puts words in the mouth of the Lord saying that it was He that told Assyria to destroy Jerusalem. In 2 Kings 19:6,22 (and Isaiah 37:6,23), the Almighty refers to them as blaspheming Him before He speaks of their end, showing that it was one of the crimes that led to their demise.
Job was not an Israelite. He was from the land of Uz (whether that is before Israel or during the time of Israel, it matters little since the land Uz is not Israel). Yet he is seen as righteous before Deity. But according to Job 1:5, he offers burnt offering for each of his children. Why? His words, as a non-Israelite, and as the father of non-Israelite children, are "'It may be that my sons have sinned, and blasphemed God in their hearts." So even righteous Job sees that blasphemy is wrong.
Logically and biblically, blasphemy is a crime of the mind and mouth which needs to be avoided if one wants to live a life acceptable in the eyes of the Almighty. He is deserving of our utmost respect.
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