Legitimate To Criminals Being Christian example essay topic

After Interviewing my mother about religion, being a Christian her self said that Christianity has been one if the biggest religions since the beginning like with Rome. Since the state often punished Christians for disturbing the peace, the Empire is often shown as merciless and callous. However, texts seem to suggest that the Empire did not treat Christians any differently from the other citizens of the state. Christianity in itself was not illegal under Roman law, so Christians were not targeted specifically as a group.

Then, the popular portrayal of early Christianity as a mass political movement that the Romans dedicated much resources to thwart seems implausible. Although popular knowledge of early Christians emphasize their persecution and severe ostracism within the Roman Empire, a closer study of Roman law reveals that Christianity and being Christian were not crimes in and of themselves. As a matter of fact, citizens of the Roman Empire were free to worship any god. Even their proclamations about Jesus were not considered heretical. On the contrary, it was not out of the ordinary to declare a human to be divine. After all, the emperor himself was thought by many to have been divine.

In addition, the " secret meetings" of Christians to celebrate the Lord's Supper often portrayed, as highly covert and something the Christians attended in fear of being found out, also were not illegal. As a matter of fact, most of the rituals and beliefs associated with being a Christian in ancient times were not deemed criminal. In actuality, the Roman Empire punished Christians for breaking laws that were applicable to every Roman citizen. While Christians were not sought out as a group in particular, it is true that individual Christians did suffer punishment in the hands of Roman authorities.

Much of the punishments imposed on them were for criminal activities. While civil law was very developed, criminal legislation was rarely created. For the most part, governors were responsible for exacting punishment as they deemed necessary. For instance, Christians were not reprimanded for worshipping God but for violating laws on worshipping the emperor and the state gods. Most often, Christians were persecuted for "disturbing the peace". Christians in the ancient world seem to project an image of exclusivity and isolation.

Their communities were tight-knit and exacted extreme demands on their members. Early Christians were called to abandon their families to join the "family of Christ". People left their families to join other "brothers and sisters" in their faith. My mother also said that while it is documented that Christians suffered directly or indirectly for their beliefs as time passed, in its beginnings, Christianity was not considered a movement of mass proportions and influence that merited much attention from the state. On the contrary, Christianity was seen as just another religion that may cause some disruptions but would ultimately fade away. It can be argued that it was someone important who made it legitimate to criminals being Christian even though he himself persecuted Christians for criminal acts only, as he was the one who punished Christians widely.

After asking my mom what he biggest religious event that occurred, she immediately said the Holocaust which was the persecution of million of Jews by the German people from the 1930's all the way to the 1940'. The Holocaust started with the night of Broken Glass where all the German people destroyed the business of all the Jew's and later escalated by the persecution and the killing of the Jewish people in Germany by the Nazis led by Adolf Hitler..