<<Well, one of the interesting things in the PBS special on Jesus was that the Romans, who governed Jerusalem in Jesus' time, believed in complete freedom of religion. >>
They believed in it only as long as it was beneficial to the Roman empire in keeping order. Tacticus who was a famed Roman historical writer during the time of the Apostles says this after Nero burned the city:
Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judaea, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their centre and become popular. -Tacticus
Tolerance of other religions?
-Chris |
