Originally Posted by George Knighton
Just a couple of questions.
1.Mithraism was extant in the Near East at the same time, and gained ground as a majority religion in Egypt and Asia Minor at the same time that Christianity was spreading.
Do you have an opinion about why Christianity replaced Mithraism and other religions as the religion of the majority?
2.Most people believe, and it's even taught in schools, that Constantine I (Ever August) was the one who established Christianity as the state religion.
However, all he did was stop the persecutions, and visibly adopt Christianity as his personal religion.
It was actually Theodosius I (Ever August) who adopted it as the state, imperial religion in place of all the others that were available, and it was with his reign that the title Pontifex Maximus referred to the Emperor as the chief Christian bishop and priest.
Do you have an opinion about why Theodosius the Great established Christianity so firmly in Roman Imperial consciousness? What made it attractive as an imperial faith?
At one point in time, two cousins were vying for the throne of Rome. One emperor largely regarded the christian faith to be a freaky cult, and largely ignored it. The other one was curious about christianity. Said pro-christian guy saw a shooting star one night, thought it to be a sign from God, launched a surprise offensive with the help of some zealots he gathered over the course of a day or so, and was able to route the opposing army.
And why did the roman government so firmly entrench christian thought into their form of government? Long before Marx so eloquently put it, the romans were well aware of Religion being an opiate for the masses. The previous roman mythological system had little stress inherent in obedience and complicity to the government, and Christianity was chock full of it. So why not use it to it's fullest? A despot will take every step required to maintain his position of power.
Though, I'd like to clarify that I don't think Christianity's sole purpose is to control people in some illuminati-style fashion... But I do strongly believe that whenever religion is wielded by a government, the intent is to use it as if it were a tool. Look at historical, and even current, events, and you see this is true.