When was ‘blood libel’ ever used against Christians? Please be specific.
I’d heard it many times in my life - not applied to Jews, before I ever knew it was mostly anti-Semitic.
During the first and second centuries, some Roman commentators misunderstood the ritual of the Eucharist and related teachings. While celebrating the Eucharist, Christians drink red wine in response to the words “This is the blood of Christ”. Propaganda arguing that the Christians literally drank blood was written and used to persecute Christians. Romans were highly suspicious of Christian adoptions of abandoned Roman babies and this was suggested as a possible source of the blood. In the Mandaean scripture, the Ginza Rba, a purportedly Christian group called the “Minunei” are accused of it against the Jews: “They kill a Jewish child, they take his blood, they cook it in bread and they proffer it to them as food.” (Ginza Rba 9.1).
Athenagoras defended Christians against the charges of cannibalism (a mischaracterization of communion, the “body and blood of Christ”) as well as incest and atheism. This was blood libel of Christians in early church days. http://www.christianhistorytimeline.com/GLIMPSEF/Glimpses2/glimpses186.shtml