This was originally written for LRBC for October 5th 2025

At a certain point in the history of early Christianity there was a nasty rumour that went about. The rumour was that Christians practiced cannibalism and committed incest.

Why on earth did people think this?

When we stitch together known facts about early Christianity and its context, we can see how it is that prejudiced imaginations might leap to such conclusions:

• Christian beliefs and practises were new—the wider public knew very little about them.
• Christians often referred to each other as “brothers” and “sisters”, including their wives and husbands. 
• Christians also regularly had shared meals known as “love feasts” (cf. Jude 1:12).
• Church meetings were held in private homes, and visitors weren’t always allowed to come and join in—and thereby see it for themselves.
• In the ancient Greek-Roman world, abortions were much more dangerous than they are today. Because of this, the practice of “exposure” was an acceptable way (for pagans) of disposing of unwanted babies without murdering them after they were born. “Exposure” was simply abandoning the newborn infant and leaving it to die of natural causes. Because Christians valued human life, they were known to rescue and raise these babies.
• The bread and wine that are eaten and drunk in the Christian ritual of “communion” were spoken of as being the body and blood of Jesus.
• Some pagan religious celebrations at that time—such as that of Bacchus, the god of wine and ecstasy—involved wild drinking parties that culminated in orgiastic revelry.

It is from facts such as these that malign and misinformed notions rumours sprouted. 

Behind closed doors, the Christian “love feasts” with their “brothers and sisters” were imagined to be incestuous drunken carousing.

In light of the rescued babies and the practice of “eating and drinking” the body and blood of Jesus in the communion meal, a more sinister notion was concocted. The speculation was that the baby was hidden inside a loaf of bread which a new convert would cut open, unwittingly murdering the baby. The Christians then feasted on the blood and flesh of the infant, while the guilty perpetrator was bound to silence.

Such were the rumours that ancient Christians had to answer for.

Fast-forwarding to the modern world, misinformed speculations about Christianity are usually less exciting than these. Sometimes accusations are true only in the case of Christians acting against their professed faith.
Some critics may speak out of willful spite, but most do so out of a simple ignorance and misunderstanding of basic facts. 

This calls for a kind of apologetics that we think about less often. It isn’t so much the highly skilled professionals with a high profile that are needed, although they certainly play a vital role. 
Rather, what we need are ordinary Christians who are willing to talk with their neighbours and colleagues—to share basic facts, demystify mysteries, and set records straight.  

Christians don’t eat babies. We rescue them. We love one another as family. We celebrate our Lord’s resurrection. We seek to honour God in our living and our dying.

If your church was accused of the things the early church was sometimes accused of, could you set that record straight? Often, defending and commending Christianity is as simple as this.