Heresy laws were invented by church organisations in order to combat, among other things, religious satire. The "other things" include, but are not limited to unbelief, dissidence, non conformity, sceptical enquiry and critical thinking. Three hundred years separate the political emergence of the Christian religion (4th century) and the Islamic religion (7th century). What was going on in the realm of religious satire against Christianity 300 years ago? Not much. It was utterly prohibited by the insidious behind-the-scenes grip that the Christian church organisation had over the legal systems of the so-called Christian nations and its states. (Do some research on the Laws of [Christian] Blasphemy).
ORIGINS
Mohammad is known to have executed a number of satirists when he finally had supreme military power of his region. Do we have any evidence to suggest the Constantine may have been motivated to execute any satirists? I think there is some compelling evidence to suggest that Arius of Alexandria was a satirist, and a chief exponent of anti-Christian satire.
- 1) Athanasius calls Arius the "harbinger of the anti Christ" and compares him three times to Sotades, an ancient Greek satirist.
2) The letter of Constantine to Arius c.333 CE also provides a few clues.
The implication of this is that the Arian controversy was an anti-Christian controversy. People had the choice to find themselves Christians or not. The rich and powerful pagans found the tax-exempt church organisation financially attractive. Constantine had to legislate against the numbers of clever and rich pagans trying to enter the church as bishops. But what about the masses of people who were not rich and powerful, and out to protect their riches and power? What about the middle classes and the common people etc?
Jerome tells us that "
the world groaned to find itself Arian".
Note that the world did not groan to find itself Christian at all.
LC
