For the first three centuries following the death of Jesus, Christians were a small minority in the Roman Empire. Like most minorities, they faced persecution. Many didn’t like them. It was rumored that incestuous orgies, infanticide and cannibalism took place during their worship services. Because the pagans believed that their gods became angry and punitive if they weren’t worshiped, the Christians were sometimes blamed for natural disasters. It was believed the Christians had angered the gods by denying them. Christians were sometimes viewed with suspicion because they refused to worship the state gods or recognize the divinity of the emperor. Christians were so marginalized and disliked, they were sometimes killed. In this atmosphere, Christian apologetics were born.
Tertullian was an early proto-orthodox Christian writer (c. 155 – c. 240 AD) and Church Father. One of the ways he advocated for greater tolerance and acceptance of the Christian faith was by arguing for religious freedom.
Wikipedia: “Among his apologetic writings, the Apologeticus, addressed to the Roman magistrates, is a most pungent defense of Christianity and the Christians against the reproaches of the pagans, and an important legacy of the ancient Church, proclaiming the principle of freedom of religion as an inalienable human right and demands a fair trial for Christians before they are condemned to death.”
As I understand it, this was a fairly common stance among the early Christian apologists. Then the idea was quickly dropped when Christianity became the official religion of the empire.
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