# data[].attributes.body
Persecutions were often sparked by specific events

# data[].attributes.body
the classic test of a Christian’s faith was to force him or her, on pain of death, to swear by the emperor and offer incense to his images, or to sacrifice to the gods

# data[].attributes.body
Trajan told Pliny that it was to be dealt with on a case by case basis.

# data[].attributes.body
As many of the religious sect that could be found were rounded up and put to death in the most horrific manner for the amusement of the citizens of Rome

# data[].attributes.body
Christian refusal to sacrifice to the Roman gods was suspicious and considered an insult to the gods and potentially endangered the empire which they deigned to protect

# data[].attributes.body
During the Great Persecution which lasted from 303 to 312/313, governors were given direct edicts from the emperor. Christian churches and texts were to be destroyed, meeting for Christian worship was forbidden, and those Christians who refused to recant lost their legal rights

# data[].attributes.body
pardon was available to those willing to renounce their religion by offering sacrifice to the emperor or Roman gods

# data[].attributes.body
They asked if the accused individuals were Christians, gave those who answered in the affirmative a chance to recant, and offered those who denied or recanted a chance to prove their sincerity by making a sacrifice to the Roman gods and swearing by the emperor's genius. Those who persisted were executed

# data[].attributes.body
There was no empire-wide policy against the Christians, and the only solid precedent was that set by Trajan in his reply to Pliny: the name of "Christian" alone was sufficient grounds for punishment and Christians were not to be sought out by the government

# data[].attributes.body
Provincial governors in the Roman Empire had a great deal of personal discretion and power to do what they felt was needed in their jurisdiction

# data[].attributes.body
Christians were persecuted by local authorities on a sporadic basis, often more according to whims of the local community than to the opinion of imperial authority

# data[].attributes.body
Christians were persecuted under the emperor Nero, who blamed them for the Great Rome Fire (64 AD)

# data[].attributes.body
The Jewish people had to pay a "Jewish Tax" to keep up with their religion. Christians, being considered a sect of Judaism, also had to pay this tax in order to practice their religion. This all changed, however, when they were no longer considered a sect of Judaism but it's own religion. The new religion was regarded as superstition, no longer a harmless(and profitable) sect of the Jewish faith. It was now considered corrosive, not only to society, but to the average Christian's mind.