It seems to me Benjamin, you are doing to history what you accuse believers of doing to the bible--picking and choosing or radically reinterpreting. Really, hardly any martyrs? The whole persecution thing one big exaggeration? Historians don't know what they were killed for? I believe it was called "atheism" as they refused to worship the authorized gods of the Romans.

As for Paul, I understand your animosity. But a more complete reading of Paul would show that he often defended himself against those who accuse him of "bending the rules" or of not conforming to Jewish law, such as in eating with Gentiles. His speech to the Athenians is a classic example of what he is expressing here. He commented on all their gods, noting the statue to the Unknown God and proceeded to latch onto that to launch into his message. No doubt, the purist in his crowd would have complained that he didn't condemn them all for their belief in all those other gods, instead appeared to tacitly accept their existence.