Religion
In reply to the discussion: Ancient Confession Found: 'We Invented Jesus Christ' [View all]Humanist_Activist
(7,670 posts)at least. It was a sect of Jews at first, then gained a following through Gentiles later.
However, regardless as to what was attributed to Jesus Christ, or what he could have possibly said, the fact is that none of it mattered in his lifetime, or a lifetime or two afterwards, the cult surrounding him as the messiah simply wasn't prominent enough to warrant Rome's attention outside of being a curiosity.
Also, up until around 70 AD, Rome was becoming slightly more tolerant of their Jewish subjects, creating compromises that allowed the Jews of that time to worship as they please, as long as they acknowledge Rome as head of the earthly realm. The Jewish religion was still considered atheistic to them, why would they create another sect of this atheistic heresy that won't recognize Rome's divine rights?
Fast forward 3 centuries, and you have the Roman Emperor himself being so concerned about going into the right afterlife he "converted" to all known religions, sort of, and legalized Christianity, if it were an invention of Rome to begin with, why wasn't it legalized when it was founded or initially spread?