History's effect on Religion Message Board

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Pastimes : History's effect on Religion

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To: exdaytrader76 who wrote (286)	8/9/2005 8:52:27 AM
From: Alastair McIntosh	Read Replies (1) of 520

Here is an article about early persecutions of Christians: answers.com Aside from the occasional lynching, the first organized, state-supported persecution of Christians is the one initiated by Nero in 64 AD, in a search for scapegoats after the Great Fire of Rome. Though posited by many, the "persecution" of Nero is considered by some to be an anachronism. The only reference we have comes from the Roman historian Cornelius Tacitus in his annals. The text refers to the subjects of the persecution as "Christians" though not even Paul or the Earliest Church fathers refer to themselves by this name. It is highly unlikely that such hatred of an obscure sect could have developed so rapidly. It is even more unlikely when you consider the fact that this obscure sect did not have a distinctive name for itself and was considered by outsiders to be part of a much larger sect, Judaism. Although Church Father's emphatically try to make the case for widespread persecution of Christians at their present time and in the past, no Christian (or non-Christian) author quotes the reference to the "Neronian persecution" until the 5th century, when it is quoted by the apologist Sulpicius Severus in a work replete with anachronisms and fanciful miracles. Indeed, some "Christians", if one could call the sect in its early stages of development that, may indeed have been persecuted for their religious ideals, though it would have been mere venting of Roman anti-Semitism at the obscure "Jewish" sect after the costly and foolhardy revolts in Judea, and not particular hatred of these people for worshipping "Christus." Another article is at: geocities.com The number of Christians killed by civil authorities is almost insignificant when compared to the number slain by the Church for theological differences.

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