In the early days of Christianity, the religion as a whole was despised and endured over 300 years of hostility to eventually become the dominant religion in the Roman Empire. Just as Christ had died on the cross, early Christians believed there was no greater honor than to imitate that death; they expected suffering. Christian persecution gave rise, among other things, to sects and contributed greatly to the rapid growth of Christianity. Tensions caused by conflict between religions, imperial policies, and empire-wide persecutions initiated by many different emperors constitute the majority of situations that motivated the Roman Empire to persecute Christians, only to be ended by Constantine . When it came to religion, Christians were not necessarily persecuted just because they were Christians. “The Roman conception of religion was generally centered on civil virtues and outward observance” (Toivo 7), which essentially meant that the Roman Empire allowed the existence of any religion as long as the reigning emperor was recognized as divine and was also venerated. “During the first centuries, Christian loyalty to God was often interpreted by Roman state authorities as disloyalty to their state” (Toivo 7). While a large number of the Roman Empire's Christian persecutions stemmed from contempt of the Roman Empire's culture, way of life, and speaking ill of the Roman Empire, "Tertullian said that Christians were blamed 'for every public disaster and every misfortune.' that struck the people" (Toivo 7). The Christian religion as a whole almost always took the blame for any unfortunate event that happened in the Roman Empire. This helped much of the Roman public to view Christians as genuinely suspect and intolerable, regardless of the situation… at the center of the paper… Christians, of Jews, and Muslims by Christians” (Wright 23). From 312 to 313, Constantine's actions showed his growing favor for the Christian church. He sent three letters to Carthage, ordering the Roman governor "to restore to the 'Catholic church of Christians in any city' all property which it had formerly possessed, [regardless] of its present owner" (Wright 23). Christians who belonged to the early church found themselves persecuted due to the enormous tensions caused by conflict between religions, imperial policies implemented by hostile emperors, and imperial-wide persecutions implemented against Christianity. Constantine ultimately helped keep Christianity alive during the 300 years of hostility suffered by the religion as a whole and paved the way for the growth and development of the Christian church..