Posted by Stephen on December 19, 19101 at 07:09:20:
In Reply to: Re: roman persecution posted by Humberto on November 27, 1998 at 02:54:40:
The question of 'how' can be easily answered
The elaborated on text, screen, etc.. can
be found by a short click of the mouse.
The 'why' gets more tricky.
This also, though, can be found throug historical records.
Speaking from a fairly agnostic viewpoint,
in general you can boil it down to just human nature,
not specifically towards a religion(christian crusades, etc.)
The Roman Empire was by majority Pagan, and therefore,
for what is natural to human nature, persecution forms.
And elimination(in the empire) of anyone who refused the
Pagan belief, began to be quite common.
And as we know, christianity rose to victor in popularity,
especially after Rome got a christian emperor.
(note: even after the christian uphold, the torturing
on a commercial standpoint continued for well over 100 years more,
aka gladiator-like events.)
I hope this small view-point can help you in your answer.