It will be interesting to note that one charge levied against Christians
by Roman authorities was that of "atheism"--which could be punished by
death. The reasons they were so charged were because they denied that the
myriad (or is it a plethora) of various divinities permitted by Roman
authority were gods at all. Likewise, they refused to participate in the
cult of Roma. So long as such behavior was restricted to a few
circumcision practitioners in Palestine, it was tolerable, but once it
spread, the authorities took an interest.
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