Re: The Early Christians: In Their Own Words

In the eyes of the Christians, however, the religious idolatry that they 
found everywhere was the principal crime committed by humankind. It was
the 
crux of their indictment against the present age and the real cause of the

judgment to come. This struck at the heart of the concept of the State as 
absolute – the sole judge of its own interests, laws, and actions. As long

as the empire was omnipotent, Caesar could be wor****pped as a god, and the

state and its laws regarded as culture, religion, and morality.