Marbaniang, Domenic

Then the commander came and said to him, "Tell me, are you a Roman?" He said, "Yes." The commander answered, "With a large sum I obtained this citizenship." And Paul said, "But I was born a citizen." (Act 22:27-28 NKJ) In Paul's time, citizenship was not determined by religion but by birth. Therefore, he could boldly say "I was born a citizen." Later on, when the emperor cults arose, Christians were persecuted in a religious pogrom that interpreted their refusal to offer sacrifices to the emperor as acts of treason. However, such religious nationalisms are illogical because citizens cannot be forced to change their belief-system when the "Head" of a State changes his - even to the extent of claiming himself as god. The very reason that government exists is in order to assure citizens the right to freedom. Also, citizenship in Paul's time was not determined by race. That's why Paul could both be a Hebrew and Roman a...