@zenvelo Actually no – on both counts. The first : as to the question being duplicitous, hardly bears consideration. It was straight forward and remains on point to all its criteria. Second point: the law(s) being broken were many and varied. Refusal to honour the Emperor by placing a bust within the church confines/denying the deification of the deceased emperors, by maintaining a higher authority existed than the emperor, by claiming godhead for themselves, refusal to kill on command, i.e., join the military and fight the enemies of Rome, the list goes on. And , lest we forget that a new ruler was coming to take over the world and its government.
More crimes were laid at their door but they were of the usual sort: incest , child sexual abuse, cannibalism and consorting with evil spirits – look to M. Aurelius letter to Asia Minor Provence were he denounces those charges ( possible forgery) for some more.