Would They Die for a Lie?

[Amarok]

 You are welcome to deny the consensus view, but that doesn't alter its status as the consensus view. 

The consensus view is that christians were persecuted (the roman empire didn't exactly stay the rod, lol) ..yes, but it's also the consensus view that the picture of christian persecution as told by christians is christian folklore.  That's why the statement "the consensus view" is so facile..as it is in almost any other conversation regarding christianity and historicity.

The long and short is that "the consensus view" doesn't match the folklore or Certain Christians™ idea of what the consensus view is.  This is a common state of affairs in modern christianity.  There are mounds and mounds of the faithful who take comfort in the idea that there is some critical mass of historical information regarding their faith..but, if they knew the contents of that mass, they'd be utterly disappointed.

Considering that consensus view is the view of apologist not historians  it's worthless