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This article provides an account of the emergence of the common law jurisdiction over blasphemy, arguing that the blasphemy laws first developed in "Rex v. Taylor" had an explicitly secular purpose. Instead of understanding this crucial decision as an emblem of the early modern fusion of church and state, this article reads Sir Matthew Hale's axiom that "Christianity is parcel of the laws of England" as a step toward the emergence of an English civil religion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]