What if Roman Imperial persecutors "disappeared" Christians instead of publicly executing them?

raharris1973

Gone Fishin'
Donor
Monthly Donor
Makes it harder for Christians to gain the same "advertising" benefits they did from the circumstances of public martyrdom in OTL. What's the intermediate and long-term affects?
 
Keep in mind that a lot of the persecutions were less "Roman emperor sends police/soldiers out to arrest Christians" and more "local citizens blame Christians for famine/spoiled milk/turning someone into a newt and form a lynch mob." So it's hard to make this a coherent policy.

More broadly, "disappearing" Roman citizens was not a great precedent to set, and people would be wary about that, even if they hated Christians.
 

Spengler

Banned
Makes it harder for Christians to gain the same "advertising" benefits they did from the circumstances of public martyrdom in OTL. What's the intermediate and long-term affects?
Because the Romans believed in humiliating those who they saw as non conformists like the Christians. The Christians laughed in the face of the Roman system of favors and familial connections, they refused to sacrifice for Roma, so they must be made an example of. Dissapearing someone doesn't do that.
 
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