Religious persecution in the Roman Empire information
Bust of Germanicus defaced by Christians
As the Roman Republic, and later the Roman Empire, expanded, it came to include people from a variety of cultures, and religions. The worship of an ever increasing number of deities was tolerated and accepted. The government, and the Romans in general, tended to be tolerant towards most religions and religious practices.[1] Some religions were banned for political reasons rather than dogmatic zeal,[2] and other rites which involved human sacrifice were banned.[3]
When Christianity became the state church of the Roman Empire, it came to accept that it was the Roman emperor's duty to use secular power to enforce religious unity,Anyone within the church who did not subscribe to catholic Christianity was seen as a threat to the dominance and purity of the "one true faith" and they saw it as their right to defend this by all means at their disposal.[4] This led to persecution of pagans by the Christian authorities and populace after its institution as the state religion.
^"the traditional Roman policy, which tolerated all differences in the one loyalty" Philip Hughes, "History of the Church", Sheed & Ward, rev ed 1949, vol I chapter 6. [1]"
^"Two exceptions there were to the Roman State's universal toleration or indifference. No cult would be authorised which was of itself "hostile" to the State; nor any which was itself exclusive of all others, The basis of these exceptions was, once more, political policy and not any dogmatic zeal". Philip Hughes, "History of the Church", Sheed & Ward, rev ed 1949, vol I chapter 6. [2]
^Religions of Rome: A History, Mary Beard, John A. North, S.R.F Price, Cambridge University Press, p. 234, 1998, ISBN 0-521-31682-0
^"The First Christian Theologians: An Introduction to Theology in the Early Church", Edited by Gillian Rosemary Evans, contributor Clarence Gallagher SJ, "The Imperial Ecclesiastical Lawgivers", p. 68, Blackwell Publishing, 2004, ISBN 0-631-23187-0
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