When it became a crime to be a christian Who was the Roman Emperor who declared it a crime to be a Christian?

Answer 1

Christianity was made illegal by the SENATE during the reign of Tiberius. Because he did not wish Christianity to be illegal he ordered Roman officials not to enforce the law. This policy lasted until the time of Nero. I found this information at; http://www.crf-usa.org/constitution_day/6b8_rome.pdf on page 28 Nero

Answer 2

Christianity was made illegal by the SENATE during the reign of Tiberius. Because he did not wish Christianity to be illegal he ordered Roman officials not to enforce the law. This policy lasted until the time of Nero.

Then Nero enforced the law.

Answer 3

This is answered by the following quote from Interpreting Christian History: The Challenge of the Churches' Past, by Euan Cameron: "It is generally agreed that there was no organised, general, centrally directed persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire before the edict of Emperor Decius in 249, which then only remained in effect until 251 CE ... The only prolonged and very widespread "great persecution" of Christians was that initiated by Diocletian in 303 CE. It lasted until 305 in the West, but continued until 311 in the East." So, there was a short period of official persecution under Emperor Decius, but the Roman Emperor who was really responsible for widespread persecution of Christians was Emperor Diocletian. -----

The Romans certainly did not tolerate Atheism. Beyond that, there was the concept of "licit religions" or religious beliefs that were formally declared legal. Promoting a religion that was not approved could be considered a crime. Judaism was an approved religion. In Corinth, the Jews accused Paul of promoting a unapproved religion. However, Gallio refused to hear the complaint, summarily ruling that Paul's teaching was a form of Judaism.

At some point, Christianity was formally declared "unapproved". A letter from Pliny the Younger to Trajan around 115 clearly implies this; Pliny simply wanted to know how strongly to act on violations. Trajan told him to not to seek out Christians, but to prosecute anyone who was accused and refused to recant. The real question is, when was this policy formulated?

Any directive from the emperor had the force of law, similar to appellate court decision in the US. Nero undoubtedly sent out directives regarding Christians, and there is no evidence these directives were ever superseded until Constantine.

Different emperors took very different positions on how strongly to deal with violators. However, lax enforcement by an emperor would not prevent local outbreaks of heavy enforcement.

Answer 4

Christianity was never a crime in the Roman Empire. Atheism was the crime, and conquered people were expected to worship the Roman gods, but most emperors adopted the approach that if Christians were discreet about their 'atheism', they should not be sought out for punishment.

Answer 5

The Roman Emperor Nero made it a crime to be a Christian. Nero was the first Roman Emperor, and ultimately the first world ruler, to persecute Christians.