“Christian” Persecution
13 July 2006 by Eve
Many of our Christian commenters claim that they are currently being persecuted here in the US. Most of us here at GifS don’t buy that story. Christians make up an overwhelming majority of this country’s population, and its current President and his supporters make no bones about their intentions to turn this former bastion of freedom into a Christian theocracy.
However, to give credit where credit is due, early Christianity did begin in a tide of persecution by the ancient Romans and Jews, persecution so vicious it still permeates Christians’ self-perceptions to this day. This tide persisted pretty much until 311, when Emperor Galerius passed the Nicomedian edict of toleration and indulgence toward the new Abrahamic religion.
The Western Roman Emperor Constantine I and the Eastern Roman Emperor Licinius later passed the famous Edict of Milan in 313 CE, which basically secularized the government by declaring it neutral of all religion. Under this proclamation, Christians not only gained the freedom to worship openly, but also regained their formerly seized property.
So with the shadow of persecution by and large behind them, what did these early Christians do during their first three hundred years of freedom?
Well, things were quiet at first, although a disturbing trend toward intolerance had already begun to surface among the early Christians:
• The New Testament reports Ephesian Christians burning books of magical practices.
• Paul warned against any teaching that deviated from what he considered “true.”
• Tertullian and Irenaeus both condemned heretics in their writings - although Tertullian was later branded a heretic himself.
• After the First Council of Nicaea in 325, Arius’ and his followers’ texts were burned.
When Christian Constantius became sole Roman emperor in 353, barely 40 years after the Edict of Toleration, he proceeded to
• Immediately close all pagan temples in the empire.
• Execute anyone who still dared to worship the deities in these temples.
• Punish any governor who refused to enforce this decree.
Lay Christians soon used these new anti-pagan laws as excuses to destroy and plunder the temples; it didn’t take long for theologians and church leaders to take ruthless advantage of the change in their religion’s fortunes as well. In 367, Athanasius of Alexandria wrote a letter some see as “calling in” all non-conformist books held at Egyptian monasteries, which led to the disappearance of the Gospel of Judas until just recently, for one. He also didn’t hesitate to use beatings, excommunication, intimidation, kidnapping, and imprisonment against his opponents.
Ambrose of Milan strongly influenced Emperor Gratian, who after coming to power in 375 further sought to suppress paganism by confiscating the properties of pagan temples, priests, and the Vestal Virgins.
After Gratian delegated leadership of the Empire’s eastern provinces to him in 379, Theodosius the Great
• Declared the Nicene or Orthodox version of Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire, thus effectively rendering all other types heretic and subject to persecution.
• Prohibited all forms of pagan worship.
• Allowed Christians to rob and destroy pagan temples.
• Cancelled the Olympic Games, which were not revived until modern times.
Usurper Emperor Maximus had “heretic” Priscillian of Avila and six followers beheaded in 385, the first Christians to be executed by fellow Christians.
Theo the Great appears to have authorized the destruction of the Serapeum of Alexandria and its library in 391-392, and has been accused of also authorizing at or around this time the destruction of the Great Library of Alexandria itself as well - although you’d be hard-pressed to find a historical subject more debated (maybe the actual existence of Christ?).
Addition: With Theo’s death in 395, the Roman Empire split into the Western and Eastern Roman Empires. Even though its mostly Orthodox citizens may have helped the East survive a few more centuries as the Byzantine Empire, powerful disagreements would soon surface to permanently divide Christianity.
In 415, fanatical Christian mob violence apparently erupted against popular philosopher Hypatia of Alexandria, who was slashed and/or burned to death. Her indifference to Christianity and friendship with Patriarch Cyril’s opponent Prefect Orestes is said to have enraged the Alexandrian pope to incite the violence through his attacks on her. Her death only served to usher in a new era of persecution by Christians under Theodosius II in 416, who
• Passed a law barring pagans from public employment.
• Persecuted Judaism by destroying a number of synagogues.
• Permitted the persecution and killing of priests and followers, and the tearing down of temples in northern Europe.
Some time around 341, missionary Ulfilas had crossed the Danube River to convert the mostly Germanic Vandals and Goths to Christianity – but the Arian kind. When Theodosius proclaimed Orthodoxy as the only True Christianity ™ in 380-381, these tribes were in no mood to change their Arianism, leading to a religious difference that would cause often armed conflict with their Nicene fellows through the fifth, sixth, and seventh centuries.
Revision: These struggles assisted other forces such as complex migration, economic, and political patterns in pulling the Western Roman Empire pretty much apart. Civilization did not plunge into the chaos of the “Dark Ages” because of the “barbarians at the gates” of Rome as we used to believe; instead, these influences acted together to usher in the beginning of the Middle Ages or Medieval Era.
As late as 772, Christian Charlemagne was still forcibly converting Saxons. The most recent European conversion I found documented was Finland, in the latter part of the 14th century.
P.S. The graphic is an image of Theophilus, Bishop of Alexandria, destroying the Serapeum and adjoining library. It’s late and I can’t find a pic that jumps out at me screaming “I go with this post!” The persecution I’m writing about above is pre-Crusades and -Inquisition, so if anyone can come up with a better illustration, please, be my guest.
13 July 2006, on 10:21 pm
It could have been so perfect. It could have been the next logical step towards where we are nowadays. It could have taken the monotheistic baton and taken it to that one-on-one, person to god relationship, eliminating the priestly class, the eventual Vatican’t, and suchlike- and all the corruption which weds to power. It could have insured that the Muhammedan Advent was a Muhammedan Correction- and a gradual withdrawing from the supernatural. The Enlightenment could have been the final break, a literal Awakening from some prehistoric slumber.
And Kevin Harris would have had a chance at a normal life.
So the Christinane had it a little rough at the get-go. Everybody hates the new guy. That’s why you really don’t want to go and persecute someone because, one day, they’ll be the boot at your neck. Perhaps that is really the “Golden Rule”, then, “Do Not Do Unto Others What You Could Not Stand To Have Them Do Unto You At a Later Date.”
Somebody really needs to take them down a peg. That, or relentless time will do it for them.
14 July 2006, on 7:49 am
Constantine Copronymus(741-775CE), or Constantine the Dung-named- for he was rumoured to have shat his baptismal font, was at the forefront of some more Xinane on Xinane crime. This was the schism between the Iconophiles- or “Iconodules” and the “Iconoclasts”. One side was into breaking shit, can you guess which side I was on?
14 July 2006, on 8:47 am
So how long until a xian shows up to say that all that bad stuff was done by Catholics (who aren’t True Xians™)? And that once the completely unflawed Martin Luther came along then they knew how to act and what was true. You know, rapture and non-biblical stuff like that.
14 July 2006, on 8:54 am
So how long until a xian shows up to say that all that bad stuff was done by Catholics (who aren’t True Xians™)?
Will - We can always get M to come debate them. Hey, maybe we can “host” a debate between Manata and M? Wouldn’t that be entertaining?
M’s latest post I see is ” Pray for a 5-year old that died”
I have news for him, if prayer didn’t work while he was alive, it sure ain’t gonna work when he’s dead. (In all seriousness though, it’s really sad to hear of a child’s death.)
14 July 2006, on 9:22 am
I posted in M’s “Saved” entry. I pointed out how Exodus clearly states that he was breaking the rule of working on the Sabbath, one of those pesky 10 commandments ( since he posts every day including Sundays ). In the same thread he both stated that the old testament was not to be followed strictly as that Jesus did not remove the burden of following it !?! It’s the same old story, pick and choose what you like and ignore what you don’t. Let’s not forget all of the stories of the Bible that *didn’t make the cut* ( it’s easier to be consistent when you are editing the content as you go, word of god my ass ). To someone with a critical mind it really does seem like they are making this stuff up as they go.
These people are certifiable.
Since the “birth” of Christianity, in the western world, how many years have Christians been persecuted and how many years have Christians or Christian governments persecuted others? Short of a few hundred years under the Romans, have Christians been actively persecuted as a group in the western world? Since that time has there been a signifigant gap in time where Christians were *not* persecuting someone ( even today )?
14 July 2006, on 12:05 pm
Remember Monty Python’s bit “Confuse a Cat”? If they get back together (I know, they’re not), perhaps they could work up a “Persecute a Christian” skit.
I learned sometime back that Martin Luther hated women, poor people (called peasants back then) and Jews. What a fine person he must have been.
14 July 2006, on 2:44 pm
Well, to be honest, there is a lot of doubt about the extent of the early Christian persecutions by the Romans. There was no real empire-wide persecution (except for one emperor whose name escapes me at the moment-Diomitian?), although on a small scale there was localized persecution. Even then, there is evidence that the Roman administrators were not fanatical, although the Christians wanted to die, basically setting up the “True Christians are persecuted” meme that suffuses the religion.
It’s more complex than that, but that’s a basic stripped-down history.
14 July 2006, on 3:06 pm
Eric: Since the “birth” of Christianity, in the western world, how many years have Christians been persecuted
Approximately 300 years (0 - 311 CE’s Edict of Toleration)
Eric: and how many years have Christians or Christian governments persecuted others?
You could make a case that the flamingly-homophobic Phelpsophiles are persecuting gays right now.
Eric: Short of a few hundred years under the Romans, have Christians been actively persecuted as a group in the western world?
Yes - but mostly by other xians! The greatest non-xian danger xians in general faced was when the Muslims invaded Spain, which Ferdinand and Isabella (of Columbus’ fame) eventually reconquered. And according to most historians, the Moorish occupation of Spanish territory was mostly characterized by tolerance toward both xians and Jews, although Muslims soon outnumbered both groups because of the benefits and advantages of converting to Islam.
A “jihad” at sea did terrorize xian shipping in the Iberian area, but when the unconquered xian territories in Spain grew stronger, they quickly began to fear each other far more than the Moors, who were starting to fragment at the same time. By the time of the first Spanish blood libel against Jews in 1250, the xians seem to have already been in ascendancy on the peninsula (the rest of Europe remained xian throughout this phase of Spanish history).
Eric: Since that time has there been a signifigant gap in time where Christians were *not* persecuting someone ( even today )?
Not that I know of, but I could be wrong; my history gets sketchier the closer it gets to me in time. I tend to be more of an antiquarian.
Catherine, some choice Martin Luther quotes: “An earthly kingdom cannot exist without inequality of persons. Some must be free, some serfs, some rulers, some subjects.”
“As to the common people, … one has to be hard with them and see that they do their work and that under the threat of the sword and the law they comply with the observance of piety, just as you chain up wild beasts.”
“I should have no compassion on these witches; I should burn them all.”
14 July 2006, on 4:23 pm
Good point about the complexity of history, Badger3K; was it Diocletian maybe you were thinking about?
14 July 2006, on 5:35 pm
Off-topic, guys, but I need to vent…
I just had a run-in with a theist co-worker (but not about religion, something worse: weight and women). I told her she didn’t know what overweight women were dealing with because she’d always been skinny.
Silly me. She showed the offense she took to my statement by stalking away. I realized my assumption: for all I knew at some point in her life she’d been huge. Anyway, I dashed off an e-mail apologizing for the remark I’d made.
I don’t know if she read it or not, because a few minutes later she came out of her office to stalk quite conspicuously over to another co-worker and first whisper then talk quite loudly about something I couldn’t catch (we’re in a large open room, no cubicles). Then she went over to the worker I supervise to tell her she was leaving early because “she” (pointing at me) had been sarcastic to her.
What I did next was pretty dumb, but silly agnostic/atheist me, I worry about people’s feelings. I got up and walked toward her in order to apologize in person. She turned her back on me, said loudly “don’t talk to me,” and closed her door in my face. I knocked and said, “I’m here to apologize.” No response. Even dumber still, I checked the parking lot to see if her car was still there. It was and she was in it. I walked up to the window and tapped on, mouthing “I’m sorry.” She shook her finger “no” in my face and drove off.
I know, I’m stupid, stupid, stupid. She’s a dyed-in-the-cloth 60-year-old drama queen, unprofessional to boot, and I fell right into her trap. I’m kicking myself as I write this! Oh, well, at least it’s Friday.
14 July 2006, on 5:48 pm
Catherine, some choice Martin Luther quotes: “An earthly kingdom cannot exist without inequality of persons. Some must be free, some serfs, some rulers, some subjects.”
“As to the common people, … one has to be hard with them and see that they do their work and that under the threat of the sword and the law they comply with the observance of piety, just as you chain up wild beasts.”
“I should have no compassion on these witches; I should burn them all.”
Eve, I’d love to have a source for this.
Don’t kick yourself. I’m not even sure what the source of her mad was, and if she wasn’t willing to tell you, why should you the fuck apologize? Is she like this at other times? Christ on a Crutch. Oh, sorry, was that a rude thing to say?
So, Mr. Luther, can I assume I won’t be getting a birthday card from you this year. You flaming bigot.
14 July 2006, on 6:53 pm
Great post, Eve! You should do a part II when you have the time and take us through the lovely Crusades and Inquisition years.
I can just see our Xian visitors sputtering: “But - But, what about all the good that Christianity has done throughout history?”
Blah. Organized religion. It’s a scourge.
14 July 2006, on 7:00 pm
Eve: Don’t give that co-worker any more rope. The most torturous thing you can do to a narcissistic drama king/queen is ignore them. Actively ignore her for about a month. Will drive her nuts.
14 July 2006, on 8:28 pm
Catherine, I got it from positiveatheism.org; however, I haven’t had a chance to look them up in actual Luther texts, so I admit to incomplete scholarship!
Thanks for the perspective on my little spat; I’m not kicking myself anymore. And yes, she’s done this before, so screw ‘er.
Happy Weekend, everybody!
14 July 2006, on 11:15 pm
I have been thinking that their persecution complex stems entirely from their idea of original sin and also how bad and sinful they are. Notice if you will who the grandest proponents of persecution are. The very ones who are the most vocal about everyone elses sins. Robertson, Falwell, Dobson, etc. They persecute themselves with so much guilt and shame how can they live and believe in anything but persecution?
15 July 2006, on 12:27 am
“There, there, Eve!”
“Where, where?” [Kidding, of course!]
First, I want to compliment you, Eve, on another great post. Like I mentioned in another post…you have a real knack!
[Kudos to all youse guys, though;...for so many variations on all the myriad subject matters!]
Sorry that you’ve had such a lousy time at work, Eve.
At least here, at GifS, you have what I love about the site [and a few other Atheist Sites]: a likeminded support group!
As an aside, I stopped drinking way back, using the AA support group…never liked the god stuff…and I eventually left, years ago, for that reason. [Penn & Teller, on their hilarious 'Bullshit' series, did an excellent cult expose on that!]
BUT!…It was the SUPPORT of the ‘like-addicted’, or like-minded, if you will, which allowed me to NOT feel alone; and to unburden myself, with the knowledge that others understood, etc.
I was thinking a great deal about the recent ‘Debate’ issue;…you know…the one with Manata trying to sucker one of us into ‘knocking our heads against the wall’ …debating a ‘Faith-based’ indocrinated Fundie clone? I have to agree with you, Eve, and Stardust [?] that it’s pretty much a waste of time. [I do, however, enjoy debates involving atheist participants like...Dawson, Barker, etc.]
“With all due respect!”…I’d like to make a basic [and I suppose, in a way, a somewhat obvious] Point:
ONE CAN ONLY REALLY CHANGE ONESELF. …Like many of you here [I assume], I arrived at my Atheism [and any other phase that I evolved through, in my life], pretty much, on my own; in SPITE of heavy duty childhood ‘programming’, non agreement with family, friends, Societal attitudes,…etc. [Yada, Yada.] What I’m saying, in a way, goes back, for me, to a famous ‘Esoteric’ dictum…that being:
“When the student is ready; the ‘Teacher’ arrives!’
Not taken literally, I think it applies, more, to a NOTICING, sometimes, in a ‘Eureka moment’; it can come through anyone, or any source of information which coincides with one’s ‘point of direction’,…at a crossroad perhaps…leading oneself to a major ‘paradigm shift’ [?]
[A future discussion subject, perhaps?]
To conlude:…what really attracts me, personally, to this Site is the comfortable feeling that, no matter what the subject being discussed, …no matter who’s expressing it, …in whatever personal style, …the related, or unrelated ideas to be shared…
GifS remains: A FRIENDLY ATHEIST OASIS IN THE tremendously vast, …sometimes completely maddening, …DESERT of…what!…”Terminally Brainwashed Believers”?
[Of course, the passing parade of Fundie Trolls CAN'T understand that sentiment!]
18 July 2006, on 9:52 pm
Thanks for the advice on my co-worker, Sean; that’s what I’m doing.
I thought about a Part 2 even while writing this, but the Crusades and the Inquisition were HUGE! The sheer amount of, well, stuff on them is daunting, to say the least, which is why I concentrated on those first few centuries after the Great Xian Persecution by the Romans (TM). Blame it on my love of the ancient and obscure!
That said, don’t be surprised if I post on a lesser-known detail about either the Crusades or the Inquisition; I’m fascinated by the medieval “urban legend” of the Blood Libel…
20 July 2006, on 7:51 am
I know it’s huge, Eve, but you would do it such great justice. One of the things I am loving about GifS is that the more we write on this stuff, the more we can link off to our own site for information about it. It’s awesome. I love this post, by the way. I just read it a second time and followed a bunch of the links. Great research and a good chunk of meaty info to sink one’s teeth into. You’re fast becoming our mythology professor!
20 July 2006, on 9:07 pm
Well now, now I’m *really* blushing! Thanks for the props, yo.
31 July 2006, on 8:42 pm
[...] The story thus far: Theo the Great’s death in 395 split the Roman Empire into the Eastern Roman (a.k.a. Byzantine) Empire, which would continue united for a few more centuries, and the Western Roman Empire, which would begin almost immediately to fragment under the pressure of complex forces, including Orthodox vs. Arian struggles, conversion movements, migrations, and fluid political, economic, and military patterns (see “Christian” Persecution). [...]
18 October 2006, on 4:22 pm
I am another xian troll who popped in to provide some lame insults and flame-baiting…sorry Saul Bad–Bad Saul!! …read the comment policy on the main page.