Transcript Judaism, Christianity and Rome

Christianity and Islam
The Early Christian Church
and
Islam
Rome clashes with Christianity
The Romans are very open minded about religion
BUT expect everyone in the empire to make
observance to Roma the spirit of Rome as a sign of
loyalty
Christians and Jews are prohibited from worshiping
idols and thus can’t.
The Romans give the Jews a pass as theirs is an
ancient religion and people
But Christianity begins to convert Roman citizens who
then refuse…
Many question their loyalty.
Persecution of Christians
Both Romans and Jews persecuted the
Christians
The Jews because they were a heresy
The Romans because
• They refused to make sacrifice to Roma
• They would sometimes destroy idols
• They would refuse to fight in the army
• Once because they were blamed by Nero
for setting fire to Rome
Persecution Backfires
Roman persecution of Christians did not
discourage the growth of Christianity but
instead encouraged it.
Christians were martyred, that is died for
their faith, bravely for they believed they
would be rewarded in the afterlife
Witnesses of these tortures and executions
were impressed and often convinced to
convert.
Islam
612 The Angel Gabriel appeared to Mohammed and
the “Voice of God” dictated the Koran. With it
Mohammed was to correct the errors that Christians
and Jews have made.
He and his successors, the Caliph were both political
and spiritual absolute rulers
ca. 656 The religion split into two sects:
Shia: followers of Ali, Mohammed’s cousin, now
about 15 % of Muslims
Sunni: followers of Mu'awiya Ummayad, the governor
of Damascus, the majority
By 733 Islamic Caliphates spread from Persia to Spain
Three Great Ideas
Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all agree
on three ideas that contributed to the
development of Democracy in the West:
 That each individual should be valued as
a creation of God…and thus has rights
That all people are equal before God
That each individual has a duty to the
community of man, and thus serves God