The destruction of Palmyra in AD 385 – it was to be destroyed again, this time by Muslims, in January last year – came just as Roman rulers were consolidating Christianity as the official ideology of the Empire. Earlier, Christians had been suspected on account of their strange ways. They lived ascetic lives so as to smooth their path to paradise, and thought it a sacred duty to coax others, too, onto the right road, by any means necessary.

Ripping an infidel’s innards out was fine and dandy when done in the name of Jesus.

Christians had never been targeted for persecution by Rome. The Empire was built on conquest and slavery. Religion didn’t have a lot to do with it. The Romans, like the Greeks before them, were polytheists. You could worship Zeus. Or, if you fancied, Aphrodite. Or both. Or pick from a rich range of others on offer. Sailors tended to go for Neptune, farmers for Ceres, etc. Or you could denounce the whole notion of gods as nonsensical.

Religions which don’t insist on One True God tend to be tolerant of others. The Pagans frequently offered Christians, come among them, space for their belief and practices. “There’s room for your God, too.” The response was always, “Begone, blasphemer!”

It was when the monotheist fanaticism of Christianity began to fuse with the interests of Empire that the stage was set for terror unleashed on any who spoke out of turn. Easy-going followers of the old gods, “pagans,” watched with rising apprehension as their world become occluded by the darkness of Christianity. Towards the end of the fourth century, the philosopher Symmachus appealed to the emperor Gratian. “Each person has their own custom, each their own religious rite.” Mankind was ill-equipped to pick and choose between them, “since all reasoning is shrouded in ambiguity… We offer you prayers, not a battle… We see the same stars, the sky is shared by all, the same world surrounds us. What does it matter what wisdom a person uses to seek for the truth?” The response, again, was brutal contempt.

To read more on McCann's thoughts about oxymoronic "Christian virtues", look for his full piece in the latest issue of Hot Press, available now in stores and from the link below.