Pray tell how Christians were able to be the aggressors prior to their being made the established religion, at a time when they themselves, unlike the Jews, had almost no legal standing in the empire? And you are resisting the plain fact that Jews and Christians were rivals for the loyalty of young .Jews. The very similarity of the two faiths comes out in Justin’s Martyr’s dialogue. Jews had been hellenized for hundreds of years, since the time of Alexander, and the Pharisee movement was occasioned the need to go against this, to establish a clear tradition for the people to follow. Christianity offered an alternative, and one that that did not require one to cut oneself off as much as the rabbis and sages did. My guess is that after Constantine’s time, many Jews joined with many pagans to follow the path to power by joining the Church. The Church Fathers were not entirely happy about the swelling of numbers. Especially those who had suffered through hard times knew opportunists when they met them, or thought they did. Jealousy made many “old” Christians in 15th Century Spain, do their best to cut down converted Jews to size, by spreading lies.
quoting from my post #245: "So after the second century Revolts, Jews were invariably the victims, and after 380 AD, Christians the aggressors."
quoting from daniel212's post #17:
"After the edict, Theodosius spent a great deal of energy suppressing all non-Nicene forms of Christianity, especially Arianism, and in establishing Nicene orthodoxy throughout his realm.[4].
"In 383, the Emperor ordered the various non-Nicene sects (Arians, Anomoeans, Macedonians, and Novatians) to submit written creeds to him, which he prayerfully reviewed and then burned, save for that of the Novatians.
The other sects lost the right to meet, ordain priests, or spread their beliefs.[6]
Theodosius prohibited the residence of heretics within Constantinople, and in 392 and 394 confiscated their places of worship.[7] "
Sorry, I do my best to be both brief and accurate, sometimes arriving a bit short of the mark.
RobbyS: "And you are resisting the plain fact that Jews and Christians were rivals for the loyalty of young .Jews."
Just as they are today, without that justifying any state-sponsored terrorism against Jews, or anyone else who doesn't submit to ecclesiastical authorities.
RobbyS: "My guess is that after Constantine’s time, many Jews joined with many pagans to follow the path to power by joining the Church.
The Church Fathers were not entirely happy about the swelling of numbers."
Christian numbers more than doubled every century until the year 400 AD, and have continued to grow every century since.
Along the way, the Catholic Church and others have accommodated a wide variety of regional cultural practices and values within its own teachings -- especially where local traditions dove-tail Christian messages.
But there is also a "dark side", a long history of misusing its political powers to suppress and oppress non-believers.