Why there were growing tensions between the Romans and the early Christians?

Answer 1

They were suspected of planning revolution - meeting in private houses, and reportedly eating human flesh and blood - sacrileges were often a sign of revolutionaries binding themselves with criminal actions so that none of them could break the plot without bringing the death penalty on themselves as well as the others.

Answer 2

The traditional religions of the Romans and the Greeks (and all the other nations, except the Jews) involved the worship of many gods.

Both Judaism and Christianity totally rejected this idea, and Christians and Jews acknowledge only one deity, God.

The Romans thought that they were the most god-fearing nation upon earth. They believed that their military and political success was due to their devotion to the gods.

The Romans also thought that each nation should continue to follow their traditional gods. So in one place a certain god, or gods, would be given the highest honour; in another place another god, or gods, would be given the highest honour.

Since Judaism was the traditional religion of the Jews, and even though they only worshipped one god, called in English "God" ("god" with a capital "g"), that was perfectly OK with the Romans. It was the Jews' national religion. It is likely that the Romans would have thought that it would have been impious to prohibit the worship of the deity the Jews honoured.

Very soon, Christianity began to spread very widely amongst non-Jews. As a result and at a certain point, the Romans came to think of Christianity as no longer being a "traditional religion" (and a part of the religion of the Jews), but as something new. Furthermore, Christians were strongly opposed to the idolatry of the traditional cults, Roman, Greek and others, and drew attention to themselves in this way.

Because the Romans thought themselves to be the most pious (god-fearing) nation on earth because of their respect for the traditional cults and gods of all the nations, they naturally thought of the Christians as impious (not have respect for the gods), and even accused the Christians of Atheism (having no god).

Add to this situation the fact that the Roman leaders felt that the security of the Roman state depended upon respect being given to the traditional gods, it is not surprising that there was a conflict between the Roman leadership and the Christians over the "religion question."

You can read a little more on this in the related question shown below: How did Christianity become Rome's official religion?

Answer 3

The early Christian movement was a sub-cult of Judaism, which proliferated amongst the Greek peoples of the Middle East. They met in private houses, which aroused suspicion, especially as there were stories of them eating human flesh and drinking human blood. The Romans were tolerant of all varieties of religions, as long as they did not lead to evil practices, and particularly to revolution - they had earlier exterminated the Dionysus cult when it developed into a plot to take over Rome. The Christians, with their closed meetings instead of being in open worship at a temple, and together with the cannibalistic practices, had the signs of a plot similar to the Dionysian one, and as well the Judaistic council, fearful of this destroying their own position with the Romans, expelled the Christians. Emperor Domitian, becoming aware of the potential threat, launched a campaign to eliminate this potential revolution. This went on until Emperor Trajan recognised that Christianity was no longer a threat and put an end to the official action and bans.