The History of Buddhist Thought c31.251

c31.251

The persecutions were not, however, merely a conflict of loyalties. They were also a conflict of cultures. The Church was a new society, with a new way of life, and a new set of values. It was a society which was based on the principle of equality, and which rejected the distinctions of class and race which were so important in the Roman world. It was a society which valued humility, charity, and purity, and which rejected the pride, the cruelty, and the immorality of the pagan world. It was this new way of life which was the most effective witness of the Church, and which was the most powerful force in its expansion.