True, one of the ways Roman influence spread was by the sword. But Caesar's bloody conquest of Gaul brought it into the Imperial sphere of influence. Consequently, when Rome became officially Christian in the early 4th Century AD, those who actively spread the Gospels were buttressed and shielded by the power and institutions of the Imperial State. Not too many centuries later, the avowedly Christian empire of Charlegmange ruled much of Europe and its heartlands included the by then thoroughly Christianized provinces of Roman Gaul. Look how much trouble the Church of Rome had Christianizing the wilderness areas beyond the Rhine and the Danube where the Roman writ did not run. Although the core Roman provinces were brought into the Empire by the sword, these provinces were Christianized earlier and more fully than the rest of Europe and, in their later incarnations, were responsible for Christianizing much of the world.
To take the Romans to task for prosecuting the early Church is to ignore the reality that the Church ultimately co-opted and replaced the Roman State with its own supra-national instutions. Without an aggressive, expansionist, and occasionally brutal Rome, Christianity might never have escaped out into greater Europe from its ghetto in the Levant. Christianity owes a debt of gratitude to the Romans for wrestling prime territory away from savages in much the same way that the US owes Great Britain for taming North America. To ignore this debt and focus on ancient tensions is to ignore the greater sweep of history in favor of focusing on a parochial grudge.
According to the Bible, G-d specifically commanded the Israelites to make war and destroy certain nations. Surely you don't argue with that in support of Mel's movie.
and Christians of the Crusades, waded deep in the blood of their adversaries.
I see no Biblical mandate for the Crusaders to slaughter Jews and other Christians on their way to surround Jerusalem with armies.
What you seem to be missing is that Roman brutality was a necessary pre-condition for the growth of Christianity throughout Europe.
Yes, I'm missing that. What chapter and verse was that ?