By Robert Mullen (NEWS CONSORTIUM), It is a sad and disheartening fact that many Christians suffer from constant-and often brutal-persecution today, most visibly in places like the Middle East where the Islamic State rules, or in Asian nations like India or China where Christianity is a minority-India-or where all religions are barely tolerated-China.

But the persecution of Christians is not a new phenomenon. It has existed since the time of Christ, not just when the Roman Empire first recognized that Christianity was a separate religion and not a sect of Judaism; and it continued on and off for centuries until the Edict of Milan made Christianity an officially recognized religion within the Roman Empire in 313 AD.  While these early persecutions were horrendous, they played a major role in shaping the future of Christianity and the Catholic Church. Cults dedicated to the martyrs and saints were important for spreading the word, and numerous written defenses of and arguments for Christians helped sway public opinion and increase conversion from Greco-Roman pagans, both of which were key factors in Christianity's rapid expansion throughout Europe, the Middle East and North Africa

The earliest of these persecutions took place in Middle East, under the reign of King Agrippa I in the first century AD. During this time, many Jews saw Christians as just another sect, and many acts of violence were interpreted by the Jews as disciplining their wayward and misguided fellows.

Armin Rosen

The speech that Benjamin Netanyahu will give in front of Congress on Tuesday has already created a number of problems that the Israeli prime minister would never have had to deal with had he simply declined House Speaker John Boehner's invitation to address a joint session.

It has created a raft of issues on both sides of the US-Israel relationship, problems that were the sole creation of the speaking gig itself.

Critics allege that Netanyahu is using pliant US Republicans to undermine a sitting president's foreign policy. Others allege that Boehner is trying to give Netanyahu a high-profile campaign stop in the hopes that one of Obama's most eloquent public adversaries remains in power after Israel's upcoming elections.

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  SIDON, Lebanon: Remember the rubber playground floors where countless childhood days were spent playing? Well, these tiles were manufactured from recycled …