Quote:
Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl
Imagine a timeline where the cross is considered blasphemous by Christians because it was the instrument of Jesus's death and instead uses the chalice as its principle symbol of faith. The cross would become associated with Satanism and any first in scout that sported a cross as a piece of jewelry would face unexpected attention and hostility. Of course, the chalice is also symbolic of the blood of Christ, so the rituals may be bloodier than someone from Homeline might expect.
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Historically crucifixes are relatively late. The 9th century AD is about as early as we can push evidence for people carrying them around as jewelry. Indeed the cross itself is barely present in the first 3 centuries of Christian art, and even after that many of the early "examples" are in fact labarum (the chi-rho of Constantine) or have circular bits - "Coptic crosses" pretty clearly derived from the Egyptian ankh, or outright sun wheels. It's actually quite easy to imagine a timeline where it never catches on and nobody would think there was any particular association between crosses and Christ.