The main purpose of the Nicene Creed was to establish Trinitarianism as Christian doctrine, in opposition to Arianism. If a majority agreement was obtained under duress, few bishops would have been courageous enough to say so; after all, duress implies that you must remain silent about your disagreement with the verdict. Edward Gibbon says in The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, (D. M. Low abridgement, page 319), that when Emperor Constantine ratified the Nicene Creed, he made a firm declaration that those who resisted the judgement of the synod must prepare themselves for an immediate exile. That is implied evidence that Constantine was aware of the continued discontent. It was Eusebius of Nicomedia who wrote, "We have committed an impious act, O Prince, by subscribing to a blasphemy from fear of you," but his position was probably safer than most others.

Further evidence that the Nicene Creed might not have been accepted as unanimously as churches generally teach, is that, in spite of Constantine's decree, Arianism refused to go away. In 358, Constantine's son, Constantius, called two separate councils to debate the issue. The Council of Rimini, in Italy, and the Council of Seleucia, in the eastern empire, demonstrated that the church was still deeply split over the issue. A third council, at Constaninople, reaffirmed the Nicene Creed, but it was not until 381 that Emperor Theodosius convoked a general council in Constantinople, which no western bishop attended, that reaffirmed a somewhat reformulated Nicene Creed.

The Nicene Creed, as formulated in the fourth century, did not include the Filioque clause, which was a western innovation of later centuries.

The main purpose of the Nicene Creed was to establish Trinitarianism as Christian doctrine, in opposition to Arianism. If a majority agreement was obtained under duress, few bishops would have been courageous enough to say so; after all, duress implies that you must remain silent about your disagreement with the verdict. Edward Gibbon says, in The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (D. M. Low abridgement, page 319), that when Emperor Constantine ratified the Nicene Creed, he made a firm declaration that those who resisted the judgement of the synod must prepare themselves for an immediate exile. That is implied evidence that Constantine was aware of the continued discontent. It was Eusebius of Nicomedia who wrote, "We have committed an impious act, O Prince, by subscribing to a blasphemy from fear of you." But his position was probably safer than most others.

Further evidence that the Nicene Creed might not have been accepted as unanimously as churches generally teach is that in spite of Constantine's decree, Arianism refused to go away. In 358 Constantine's son, Constantius, called two separate councils to debate the issue. The Council of Rimini, in Italy, and the Council of Seleucia, in the eastern empire, demonstrated that the church was still deeply split over the issue. A third council, at Constaninople, reaffirmed the Nicene Creed, but it was not until 381 that Emperor Theodosius convoked a general council in Constantinople, which no western bishop attended, that reaffirmed a somewhat reformulated Nicene Creed.

The Nicene Creed as formulated in the fourth century did not include the Filioque clause, which was a western innovation of later centuries.