Brooke Horton

Mr. Evans
Religion II
12 April 2016
Religion has a huge influence on peoples decision making, lifestyle, and beliefs. This is
proven time and time again throughout history. An affiliation with a specific religion could
determine whether you live or die, and sadly that is still apparent in the world today. A major
conflict is between the Sunnis and Shiits in the Islam religion. These groups have been at war
for over a thousand years on who the real leader of their faith should be, and the war is still
happening today. This is just one of many examples where different beliefs have caused dispute
and deaths between groups. Conflict and persecution against the Catholic Church has been
visible throughout its entire existence.
Persecution by the Romans started in the early Church because of Nero in 64 A.D. and
ended in 313 A.D. with Edict of Milan. The deaths occurring caused the faith to spread quickly,
start of saints and martyrs, and questions about the nature of the church began to surface. The
Romans during this time period were accepting of other religions except Christianity because
they felt threatened by its teachings. Romans believed religion contributed to contribution and
dedication to government, and Christianity did not share the same views. As Tacitus, a Roman
historian stated Christianity is, superstition taken to extravagant lengths. These views and
Neros power started the persecution of Christians in the early church. Nero blamed the
Christians for a great fire that took over Rome, forcing them a new city to be built. Even though
Nero was rumored to have started the fire, people began to mistreat Christians. Romans killed,
mocked, and abused them to show they were not use to society. Neros impact on the amount of
Christians being killed was just the beginning. Although not as many Christians were killed
during this time period as some people think, how these people were treated because of religion
is unacceptable.
Persecution did not stop in 313 A.D. but kept progressing into the French Revolution. In
1789, the French states official religion was Catholicism, and the Church was greatly involved
in government. The Church had rule over the country, and almost all of Frances population was
Catholic. There was so much support for Catholics, Protestants and Jews could not have full
membership in the country. The Churchs control of the government soon ended with
philosophes began to expand their knowledge and ask more questions about the Church. These
thinkers began to question the way the government was treating clergy higher than citizens. As
these thoughts spread, the Church was under attack and change was occurring quickly. A new
constitution was written and major changes were written down. These changes included that
priests and bishops were elected by people, clergy was paid according to salary scale, and
diocese redrawn in accordance with state administrative divisions. The pope declined this
constitution, and Assembly decided to force priests to decide between state or church. In 1790,
clergy either take oath declaring support for church or give up all rights as a priest. The French
population then split and priests were seen equal to citizens and must wear regular clothes. This
was a huge attack on the Church and thousands of people were forced to oath because they had
no other options.

Christians are still being persecuted for their faith in todays society. China is making a
huge statement by tearing down thousands of crosses to regulate religious symbols in the
country. The Chinese have also torn down 50 churches, even though 28 million Christians
currently live in China. The government is trying to reduce outside influence and direct people
to state churches. Persecutions are also occurring in Pakistan. The Taliban injured over 70
Christians and killed fourteen with one suicide bombing. In another attack, 80 were killed in a
church bombing in Lahore. The amount of persecutions in the last 50 years is higher than in the
Churchs first hundred years.
The Church has been through many up and downs since the start, but it has only made the
community between followers stronger. Each of these stories about the persecution of the
Church are different in their own way. The early church was not accepted by the Romans, the
French did not want the Church in total control anymore, and Christians are being taken away
from their beliefs. Christianity is a strong, influential religion and Jesus will guide Catholics
onto the right path. Whether we have to stand up for our faith by sacrificing our lives or
possessions, Christians will fight for their beliefs.