Christianity
Christianity is defined as, "A major religion, stemming from the life, teachings, and death of Jesus of Nazareth (the Christ, or the Anointed One of God) in the 1st century AD." (Shelton) It has become the largest of the world's religions. Yet in Ancient Rome in the first century A.D. they were not welcome. Christians were burned and tortured, and persecuted for just over three hundred years because of their beliefs. Why? We may never fully know, but I believe it was mostly out of fear. Fear of the new, and fear of change. Christianity derived from Judaism. More specifically it derived from Jesus Christ who was Jewish, in the first century A.D. Judaism was a racially exclusive religion whose members did not attempt to make converts among non-Jews. (Shelton) This is one of the reasons that Jews went so long without being persecuted. Even Augustus was considerate toward there religious beliefs, and did not deny any Jew of Roman citizenship. He also would move the monthly grain doles to another day if they happened to fall on a Jewish Sabbath, but this peace did not last for long. The Jews blatant refusal to worship any God but there own began to anger the emperor Tiberius, so he therefore sent out a decree of persecution. (She
But there was no formal senatorial enactment proscribing Christianity at this time. (Starr)(Shelton) He declared by edict all citizens were required to offer sacrifice and to obtain from commissioners a certificate witnessing to the act. When it comes down to it ironically enough everyone should have just followed the Christian saying, "Do unto others, as you would have done to you. Constantine, a rival for emperor put the fate of a battle that would either win him the crown or kill him in the hands of the Christian god. The requirement created an issue of conscience, especially because certificates could be bought by bribes. Thus the Christians were very unpopular. Their preaching of a new "king" sounded like revolution. They were also accused of sexual promiscuity, due to the practice of Christians calling each other "brother" or "sister" while living as husband and wife. The Christians were not respectful toward ancestral pagan customs as the Jews had been. peace was reached with the Edict of Milan, a manifesto of toleration issued by the joint emperors Licinius and Constantine.
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