“There is an overpowering myth that Christianity was built on
violent persecution by the Roman emperors. But that is very bad
history—and sets a dangerous precedent for hyperbolic
accusations of a ‘war on Christians’ today.” – Prof. Candida
Moss For Christians, the crucifixion is the event that changed
everything. Prior to the death of Jesus and the emergence of
Christianity most ancient people interpreted oppression,
persecution, and violence as a sign that their deity was either
irate or impotent. The crucifixion forced Jesus’s followers to
rethink this paradigm. The death of their leader was reshaped as
triumph and the experience of persecution became a sign of
elevated moral status, a badge of honor. The genius of the Jesus
movement was its ability to disassociate earthly pain from
divine punishment. As a result Christians identified themselves
as innocent victims; they associated their sufferings with those
of Jesus and aligned the source of those sufferings with the
forces that killed Jesus. From the ve