Changes

:On the contrary, many ancient texts are quite clear that the persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire, while excecuted with particular gusto and viciousness, particularly during the reign of Nero, was not a constant thread running throughout the history of the Roman Empire, nor was it carried out, for a relatively speaking, sustained period. In fact, as Christianity was adopted as the state religion, and given the vitriol of the Christian authorities and Constantine - both well documented - it is apparent that being considered Christian rather than Jewish '''''was''''' preferrable. [[Image:User Fox.png|10px]] [[User:Fox|שועל]] <small>([[User talk:Fox|talk]]|[[Special:Contributions/Fox|contribs]])</small> 12:58, 28 July 2008 (EDT)

:On the contrary, many ancient texts are quite clear that the persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire, while excecuted with particular gusto and viciousness, particularly during the reign of Nero, was not a constant thread running throughout the history of the Roman Empire, nor was it carried out, for a relatively speaking, sustained period. In fact, as Christianity was adopted as the state religion, and given the vitriol of the Christian authorities and Constantine - both well documented - it is apparent that being considered Christian rather than Jewish '''''was''''' preferrable. [[Image:User Fox.png|10px]] [[User:Fox|שועל]] <small>([[User talk:Fox|talk]]|[[Special:Contributions/Fox|contribs]])</small> 12:58, 28 July 2008 (EDT)

::Fox is quite correct here. While Christianity was hardly well regarded in the Roman Empire, outright persecutions such as under Nero were the exception, not the rule, and those that did occur were mostly on a regional scale. Large-scale empire-spanning persecutions only became normal during the reign of Diocletian in the late 3rd century. --[[User:AKjeldsen|AKjeldsen]] 13:03, 28 July 2008 (EDT)

::Fox is quite correct here. While Christianity was hardly well regarded in the Roman Empire, outright persecutions such as under Nero were the exception, not the rule, and those that did occur were mostly on a regional scale. Large-scale empire-spanning persecutions only became normal during the reign of Diocletian in the late 3rd century. --[[User:AKjeldsen|AKjeldsen]] 13:03, 28 July 2008 (EDT)

 

:::Once again you making an uninformed decision based on ''your'' opinion and removing a historical observation backed by many references. All you keep putting here is ''your'' opinion, flying in the face of accepted historical record. See also Wylen, Stephen M. ''The Jews in the Time of Jesus: An Introduction'' (Paulist Press; 1995) ISBN 0809136104; Hunt, Emily Jane ''Christianity in the Second Century: The Case of Tatian'' (Routledge; 2003) ISBN 0415304059. You ignore that [[Eusebius]] records that the Jews were forced to pay the Fiscus Iudaicus, and that Christians began to petition the Emperor to distinguish them as "Christians" for taxation purposes: as the tax only applied to practising Jews, if they could be recognised as a separate religion, they would escape the impost. Domitian further extended the tax to apply to all those who "lived like Jews" - eg the early Christians who observed the Sabbath and other Biblically commanded "Jewish" practices. The emperor Nerva evntually declared that Christians were freed from paying the tax, and coins bearing the head of Nerva are inscribed fisci Iudaici calumnia sublata ("The blackmail of the Jewish tax has been lifted"). Eusebius also records that Vespasian had given orders that "the lineage of David" should be wiped out, and being considered a Jew during this period of persecution would have been extremely dangerous.

:::Once again you making an uninformed decision based on ''your'' opinion and removing a historical observation backed by many references. All you keep putting here is ''your'' opinion, flying in the face of accepted historical record. See also Wylen, Stephen M. ''The Jews in the Time of Jesus: An Introduction'' (Paulist Press; 1995) ISBN 0809136104; Hunt, Emily Jane ''Christianity in the Second Century: The Case of Tatian'' (Routledge; 2003) ISBN 0415304059. You ignore that [[Eusebius]] records that the Jews were forced to pay the Fiscus Iudaicus, and that Christians began to petition the Emperor to distinguish them as "Christians" for taxation purposes: as the tax only applied to practising Jews, if they could be recognised as a separate religion, they would escape the impost. Domitian further extended the tax to apply to all those who "lived like Jews" - eg the early Christians who observed the Sabbath and other Biblically commanded "Jewish" practices. The emperor Nerva evntually declared that Christians were freed from paying the tax, and coins bearing the head of Nerva are inscribed fisci Iudaici calumnia sublata ("The blackmail of the Jewish tax has been lifted"). Eusebius also records that Vespasian had given orders that "the lineage of David" should be wiped out, and being considered a Jew during this period of persecution would have been extremely dangerous.

:::You are riding roughshod over history. You are rejecting references on the grounds that they are "Jewish" and yet can provide nothing which counters them. Why? Is there something intrinsically "dishonest" about a Jewish reference..?  [[Image:User Fox.png|10px]] [[User:Fox|שועל]] <small>([[User talk:Fox|talk]]|[[Special:Contributions/Fox|contribs]])</small> 14:03, 28 July 2008 (EDT)

:::You are riding roughshod over history. You are rejecting references on the grounds that they are "Jewish" and yet can provide nothing which counters them. Why? Is there something intrinsically "dishonest" about a Jewish reference..?  [[Image:User Fox.png|10px]] [[User:Fox|שועל]] <small>([[User talk:Fox|talk]]|[[Special:Contributions/Fox|contribs]])</small> 14:03, 28 July 2008 (EDT)