They were called unbelievers by the Romans "those that do not believe in the Gods." Or so I heard. Any truth to this statement?
2007-12-19 08:21:59 · 15 answers · asked by Future 5 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
No, because they still believed in a God. So you could say they were the first monotheists, except the Jews were monotheists also.
That is like me calling a Muslim an atheist because he does not believe in "my" God. An Atheist means you do not believe in ANY god, not just any certain god.
So that is incorrect. It is impossible for someone to be a Christian and an Atheist.
2007-12-19 08:25:08 · answer #1 · answered by Free Thinker A.R.T. ††† 6 · 2⤊ 1⤋
No, the Romans were referring to their Pantheon. It was their nature to associate the gods of their conquered with their own. As did the Greeks. Of Course, this was true, as they all come from the same prototypes. In any case, Jupiter was the Christian God, which is why they put statues of him in The Second Temple of Jerusalem.
That's why Brits still say "By Jove!" Refering to the PXian God.
It's a very strong statement of Roman Propoganda, of which they were notorious. Nero's fire???
But the first atheists, as far as I know were the Pythagoreanists?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pythagoreanism
Diagoras of Melos (5th century BC) is known as the "first atheist". He blasphemed by making public the Eleusinian Mysteries and discouraging people from being initiated
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_atheism
Of Course there are a lot of alternatives as to the first atheists.
2007-12-19 16:28:42 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
No. Just because they did not believe in the Roman Gods, doesn't mean they didn't believe one existed. They believed in the God of the Jews, Jehovah.
2007-12-19 16:25:36 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
I see your line of thinking but I think it's a bit misguided. Christians, by definition, can't have been Atheists, as they believe in a god, albeit a different god than those the Romans believed in.
2007-12-19 16:25:22 · answer #4 · answered by OhKatie! 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Atheists believe there is no God, the early Christians were never that.
2007-12-19 16:25:12 · answer #5 · answered by Steve C 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
it's true that they were considered unbelievers and that's why they were persecuted, apart from nero's stupidity and will to become a poet taking inspiration from the fire and wanting to get someone punished from people's anger...but i wouldn't make a comparison between christians and atheists
2007-12-19 16:29:48 · answer #6 · answered by thankyou 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Er, yeah but its kind of a matter of perspective. Atheist means against (or "without,") God, so Muslim and followers of any other religions are ATHEISTIC towards the CHRISTIAN God... But they are not technically ATHEISTS themselves...
2007-12-19 16:27:48 · answer #7 · answered by Dr Bob 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
well they might have been called does who do not believe, but in fact, they were does who believe in something else, atheist believe in nothing, so no christians weren't the first atheist...
2007-12-19 16:25:40 · answer #8 · answered by Josephine 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
No. Atheists were around LONG before Christ was.
Read a little bit about Socrates and what he thought of the gods. (He predates Christ in case...yeah...)
2007-12-19 16:25:31 · answer #9 · answered by Laptop Jesus 3.9 7 · 2⤊ 1⤋
No it doesn't!
They were the TRUE Believers-in Christ.
They were unbelievers in the false gods of Rome!
2007-12-19 16:24:56 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 5⤋