"My instinct is that Jews and Muslims are specifically targetted because they've proved especially resistant to Christian assimilation in western cultures."
Possibly, but anti-Semitism in Western culture pre-dates Christianity. The blood libel itself was first propagated by with an Graeco-Egyptian named Apion, who claimed that Jews sacrificed Greek Gentiles in their temple.
Back when Christianity was nothing more than a minor Jewish sect, pagan Roman authors also accused early Christians of sacrificing children and engaging in cannibalism, blood-drinking and incest.
The Roman emperor Hadrian went on an anti-Jewish warpath in the first century in response to the failed Jewish rebellion against the Roman Empire. The temple was destroyed and circumcision, studying the Torah, and observing the Sabbath were all banned on pain of death, though that was later amended to allowing Jews to worship as they wished if they paid a tax.
The Romans' anti-Jewish feelings were no doubt heightened by the Jews' refusal to assimilate, though. Both Jews and early Christians refused to honor the Roman pantheon or worship any of the deified Roman emperors.
no subject
Possibly, but anti-Semitism in Western culture pre-dates Christianity. The blood libel itself was first propagated by with an Graeco-Egyptian named Apion, who claimed that Jews sacrificed Greek Gentiles in their temple.
Back when Christianity was nothing more than a minor Jewish sect, pagan Roman authors also accused early Christians of sacrificing children and engaging in cannibalism, blood-drinking and incest.
The Roman emperor Hadrian went on an anti-Jewish warpath in the first century in response to the failed Jewish rebellion against the Roman Empire. The temple was destroyed and circumcision, studying the Torah, and observing the Sabbath were all banned on pain of death, though that was later amended to allowing Jews to worship as they wished if they paid a tax.
The Romans' anti-Jewish feelings were no doubt heightened by the Jews' refusal to assimilate, though. Both Jews and early Christians refused to honor the Roman pantheon or worship any of the deified Roman emperors.