169. Against Coercion

A popular myth is that when the Roman Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity, he forced everyone else to embrace the faith - or else face deadly consequences. But this couldn’t be further from the truth. It was under Constantine that the very modern-sounding ideas of freedom of religion and “justice for all” were first instituted. These were revolutionary ideals, and they came from a very smart, learned Christian in the Emperor's inner circle. FOR FULL SHOW NOTES - against-coercion / (00:00) - - One of history's great persuaders (06:17) - - Persecution and the Crisis of the Third Century (09:52) - - Christianity and Neoplatonism (17:44) - - Lactantius: The Christian Cicero (31:10) - - Lactantius and Constantine (39:26) - - Constantine and religious tolerance (48:06) - - Arguing Christian ethics from pagan philosophy (51:41) - - Freedom of religion and Thomas Jefferson (56:24) - - Lactantius and justice (01:07:14) - - Five Minute Jesus (01:11:43) - - Lactantius' legacy CREDITS Undeceptions is hosted by John Dickson, produced by Kaley Payne and directed by Mark Hadley. Alasdair Belling is a writer-researcher. Siobhan McGuiness is our online librarian. Lyndie Leviston remains John's wonderful assistant. Santino Dimarco is Chief Finance and Operations Consultant. Peter Kozushko is our North American representative and a point of contact for church pastors interested in engaging with our work here at Undeceptions. Editing by Richard Hamwi. Our voice actors today were Yannick Lawry and Dakotah Love. Special thanks to our series sponsor Zondervan for making this Undeception possible. Undeceptions is the flagship podcast of Undeceptions.com - letting the truth out.

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169. Against Coercion is an episode from Undeceptions with John Dickson by Undeceptions Ltd.

This episode is 76:10 long.

This episode was published on Mar 1, 2026.

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