Obama and the Edict of Milan

My post below is a condensed and slightly modified excerpt from H.W Crocker III: "Triumph - the Power and the Glory of the Catholic Church" we get a brief summary of the Edict of Milan. I was reminded of it as I watch the rising tide of resistance to Obama's steadfast efforts to make the State trump individual rights and freedoms. Freedom of conscience is one of these under threat, and it requires us to unravel Obama's doublespeak to understand this. Unravel away, and keep history in mind.

Edict of Milan - AD313
The Emperor, Maxentius, decided to crush upstart Constantine. In the early morning of October 28, AD312, Rufius Volusanius, prefect of Maxentius's Praetorian Guard, led his crack troops across the river Tiber in a surprise attack on Constatine's sleeping forces.

Constantine, a pagan, had no real belief in Christianity, but his mother and stepmother were Christians. At Verona, he had called upon the Sun God. Here, outside of Rome though he had a dream that he would conquer under the sign of the cross - the cross of Christianity, an unpopular and persecuted minority religion. Thus, his men sprang to battle with the Christian Cross marked in charcol on their shields and helmets. The element of surprise was not enough for the fearsome Praetorian Guard, and Maxentius, crossing the river on horseback, realised he should have stayed safely behind the walls of Rome. He died, and Constatine won the day.

Shortly after his victory, Constantine and his fellow Augustus, Licinius, met in Milan to discuss imperial problems. Constantine's priortiy was a guarantee of religious freedom, which became known as the Edict of Milan [AD313]. It is the first legal affirmation of religious liberty, issued more than 1400 years before a similar idea would be promulagated in America...Eusebius, who knew Constantine, reproduces the imperial edicts in his The History of the Church: "Christians and non-christians alike should be allowed to keep the faith of their own religious beliefs and worship...Christians and all others [should have] liberty...[N]o one whatever was to be denied the right to follow and choose the Christian observance or form of worship...[E]very individual still desirous of observing the Christian form of worship should without interference be allowed to do so...[W]e have given the said Christians free and absolute permission to practice their own form of worship."

In a follow-up document, the Augusti are more specific still:"Accordingly it is our wish that when you receive this letter you will see to it that any of the former property of the Catholic Church of the Christians...shall be restored forthwith."

Zen's Conclusion
The edict of Milan's ideas on freedom of belief have echoed on down through time and remain a central part of any decent bill of rights, are now being attacked by modern pagans, those who perhaps consider themselves another Maxentius...