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Christianity spread across the Mediterranean rapidly during the first century of its existence. When Christianity started becoming prevalent in Rome, problems arose with Roman authorities. Many people did not agree to the Christians’ way of life. As a punishment, those who were said to be Christian were brought before the court and questioned. Those who refused to recant their Christianity were executed. This custom was evident during the time of the Pliny, the governor of Bithynia (modern day Turkey) in the year 111-112. The correspondence between Pliny and the Roman Emperor Trajan reveals the difficulties involved with persecuting Christians for reasons that seemed unclear and unfair. Rome’s culture is deeply rooted in its faithfulness to the Roman gods. Romans participated in sports and other games that took place in the Coliseum that usually involved the worshiping of gods. Because, “all Christians agreed that the worship of gods, and everything related to that worship, must be rejected,” Christians did not participate in these events (Gonzalez 53). “All social activities—the theatre, the army, letters, sports—were so entwined with pagan worship that Christians often felt the need to abstain from them” (Gonzalez 35). Christians were seen as outsiders because of their beliefs. They did not conform to society and they insisted on exclusively worshiping their one god and refused to recognize others. The attitudes and beliefs of Christians angered Romans who loved their culture and society. Christians were eventually seen as haters of humankind. Romans not only disliked Christians’ values but they also disapproved of their practices. Because Christians referred to each other as “sister” or “brother,” the Romans imagined that Christians had orgiastic celebrations, “in which Christians ate and drank to excess, put the lights out, and vented their lusts in indiscriminate and even incestuous unions” (Gonzalez 50). Sharing in a meal, such as communion, in which the body and blood of Christ was to be consumed, also rubbed Romans the wrong way.
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