Why did christianity "take off" in europe and not any other religion??

Question

let me extend the question.... why does a particular religion become popular in a given country???

Answer 1

Because christianity was folded into the state, and had the military and administrative power of the Roman Empire behind it. We are all taught that christianity was quickly grown by gentle missionaries, traipsing through the countryside, spreading the 'good news' to grateful, welcoming pagans, who eagerly embraced these new revelations. That... as is most everything else about christianity... is a vile lie. Christianity was spread at the point of a sword... convert or die... and fear, torture, murder and atrocities were the main tools...

324 The emperor Constantine sacks the Oracle of the god Apollo and tortures the pagan priests to death. He also evicts all non-Christian peoples from Mount Athos and destroys all the local Hellenic temples.

335 Constantine sacks many pagan temples in Asia Minor and Palestine and orders the execution by crucifixion of “all magicians and soothsayers.” Martyrdom of the neoplatonist philosopher Sopatrus.

341 Constantius II (Flavius Julius Constantius) persecutes “all the soothsayers and the Hellenists.” Many gentile Hellenes are either imprisoned or executed.

354 A new edict of Constantius orders the destruction of the pagan temples and the execution of all “idolaters”. First burning of libraries in various cities of the empire.

359 In Skythopolis, Syria, the Christians organise the first death camps for the torture and executions of the arrested non-Christians from all around the empire.

364 Emperor Jovian orders the burning of the Library of Antioch. An Imperial edict (11th September) orders the death penalty for all those that worship their ancestral gods or practice divination. Three different edicts (4th February, 9th September, 23rd December) order the confiscation of all properties of the pagan temples and the death penalty for participation in pagan rituals, even private ones.

370 Valens orders a tremendous persecution of non-Christian peoples in all the Eastern Empire. In Antioch, among many other non-Christians, the ex-governor Fidustius and the priests Hilarius and Patricius are executed. The philosopher Simonides is burned alive and the philosopher Maximus is decapitated. Tons of books are burnt in the squares of the cities of the Eastern Empire.

372 Valens orders the governor of Minor Asia to exterminate all the Hellenes and all documents of their wisdom.

373 The term “pagan” (pagani, villagers, equivalent to the modern insult, “peasants”) is introduced by the Christians to demean non-believers. The non-Christians are called “loathsome, heretics, stupid and blind”. In another edict, Theodosius calls “insane” those that do not believe to the Christian God. The Christian priests lead the angry mob against the temple of goddess Demeter in Eleusis and try to lynch the hierophants Nestorius and Priskus.

381 At the Council of Constantinople the 'Holy Spirit' is declared 'Divine' (thus sanctioning a triune god). On 2nd May, Theodosius deprives of all their rights any Christians who return to the pagan religion. Throughout the Eastern Empire the pagan temples and libraries are looted or burned down.

385 to 388 Thousands of innocent pagans from all sides of the empire suffer martyrdom in the notorious death camps of Skythopolis.

389 to 390 Hordes of fanatic Christian hermits from the desert flood the cities of the Middle East and Egypt and destroy statues, altars, libraries and pagan temples, and lynch the pagans. Theophilus, Patriarch of Alexandria, starts heavy persecutions against non-Christian peoples, turning the temple of Dionysius into a Christian church, burning down the Mithraeum of the city, destroying the temple of Zeus and burlesques the pagan priests before they are killed by stoning. The Christian mob profanes the cult images.

392 On 8th November, Theodosius outlaws all the non-Christian rituals and names them “superstitions of the gentiles” (gentilicia superstitio). New full scale persecutions are ordered against pagans. The Mysteries of Samothrace are ended and the priests slaughtered. In Cyprus the local bishop “Saint” Epiphanius and “Saint” Tychon destroy almost all the temples of the island and exterminate thousands of non-Christians.

395 Two new edicts (22nd July and 7th August) cause new persecutions against pagans. Rufinus, the eunuch Prime Minister of Emperor Flavius Arcadius directs the hordes of baptised Goths (led by Alaric) to the country of the Hellenes. Encouraged by Christian monks the barbarians sack and burn many cities (Dion, Delphi, Megara, Corinth, Pheneos, Argos, Nemea, Lycosoura, Sparta, Messene, Phigaleia, Olympia, etc.), slaughter or enslave innumerable gentile Hellenes and burn down all the temples. Among others, they burn down the Eleusinian Sanctuary and burn alive all its priests (including the hierophant of Mithras Hilarius).

399 With a new edict (13th July) Flavius Arcadius orders all remaining pagan temples, mainly in the countryside, be immediately demolished.

401 The Christian mob of Carthage lynches non-Christians and destroys temples and “idols”. In Gaza too, the local bishop “Saint” Porphyrius sends his followers to lynch pagans and to demolish the remaining nine still active temples of the city.

405 John Chrysostom sends hordes of grey-dressed monks armed with clubs and iron bars to destroy the “idols” in all the cities of Palestine.

408 The local bishops lead new heavy persecutions against the pagans and new book burning. The judges that have pity for the pagans are also persecuted. “Saint” Augustine massacres hundreds of protesting pagans in Calama, Algeria.

409 Another edict orders all methods of divination including astrology to be punished by death.

415 In Alexandria, the Christian mob, urged by the bishop Cyril, attacks a few days before the Judeo-Christian Pascha (Easter) and cuts to pieces the famous and beautiful philosopher Hypatia. The pieces of her body, carried around by the Christian mob through the streets of Alexandria, are finally burned together with her books in a place called Cynaron.

416 The inquisitor Hypatius, alias “The Sword of God”, exterminates the last pagans of Bithynia. In Constantinople (7th December) all non-Christian army officers, public employees and judges are dismissed.

423 Emperor Theodosius II declares (8th June) that the religion of the pagans is nothing more than “demon worship” and orders all those who persist in practicing it to be punished by imprisonment and torture.

435 On 14th November, a new edict by Theodosius II orders the death penalty for all “heretics” and pagans of the empire. Only Judaism is considered a legal non-Christian religion.

448 Theodosius II orders all non-Christian books to be burned.

450 All the temples of Aphrodisias (the City of the Goddess Aphrodite) are demolished and all its libraries burned down. The city is renamed Stavroupolis (City of the Cross).

482 to 488 The majority of the pagans of Minor Asia are exterminated after a desperate revolt against the emperor and the Church.

515 The emperor of Constantinople, Anastasius, orders the massacre of the pagans in the Arabian city Zoara and the demolition of the temple of local god Theandrites.

546 Hundreds of pagans are put to death in Constantinople by the inquisitor Ioannis Asiacus.

556 Justinian orders the notorious inquisitor Amantius to go to Antioch, to find, arrest, torture and exterminate the last non-Christians of the city and burn all the private libraries down.

578 to 582 The Christians torture and crucify Hellenes all around the Eastern Empire, and exterminate the last non-Christians of Heliopolis (Baalbek).

And THAT, folks, is a greatly abbreviated and redacted account of just the BEGINNING of the 1,400 year Christian 'Reign of Terror'... 'Holocaust'... whatever you want to call it. Here is a more complete and extensive list... http://www.mountainman.com.au/essenes/article_060.htm

Answer 2

Because they did a better PR job than anybody else.

They got the Emperor of Rome behind them;
They appropriated all the Pagan sites, symbols, holidays and festivals, rebranded them, then sold them back to the common people. That made it MUCH easier for people to convert.
Let's not forget the Sword either: Christianity learned to use that much better than anybody else did.

On the more general question, I think the answer is similar. It's all about aggression. Not necessarily violence, though. Marketing, preaching, putting out religious texts - all of it works. Look at Islam - from a handful of followers around the Prophet, Islam conquered the entirity of Arabia, North Africa, Spain and even parts of Europe in less than 200 years. The same with Buddhism. It had missionary monks travelling through Asia than you could shake a stick at, its message was seductive, and it marketed itself aggressively with its charitable work, schools etc.

Answer 3

Maybe a religion that promises to free natives from a foreign army appeals to backward people, and a religion that promises a heavenly reward for hard work and politeness appeals to a country with a large middle class.
Eg the Mahdist rebellion in the Soudan late 19th C versus England's protestantism 16th C

Answer 4

Th Romans spread Christianity throughout Europe by killing those who did not convert. They also cut the tongues out of the Druid priests so their knowledge and folklore could not be passed down by word of mouth. The Spaniards and Portuguese explorers of the 14th - 16th centuries converted the New World inhabitants by the same means - convert or die. Christianity 'took-off' by eliminating the competition.

Answer 5

Christianity has at one time or another swept the globe. The only reason why its foothold was so strong in Europe was because the Roman Catholic Church establised the Apostate church and then began to utilize it as a world power rather than a ministry or Ekklesia (gathering for a purpose) toward the good of mankind. In the name of this facade of Christianity they did unspeakable things to people. The early church was first established in Asia Minor and then spread throughout Rome, up into Nordic regions and Germanic and so on...Read Rev 11 and it will tell you about the 1260 years of papal reign and the suppression of scripture. It was not until the reformation that the Word of God and the Gospel was finally being given to the world again as it was brought out of the "dark ages". Love in Christ, ~J~

Answer 6

The sword.

The sword brought Roman rule to the pagans. The sword turned the muslims back at tours. The sword made sure that muslims, jews and pagans renounced their old faiths or died with them.

Islam was also spread by the sword. Few religions get anywhere without it.

Answer 7

What do kitties know about missionary positions ;-) ??? It had to do with the Inquisition which wiped out every so-called "heretic" it found in its midst. That's not to say that Christ's teachings have no merit or appeal without such travesty of justice. But you said "take off" and that's how it "took off" from it's losing battle -- its numbers dwindled alarmingly, rapidly -- with Muslims, Jews, and a resurgence of pagan belief systems after the Crusades.

Super responses below me, Mr. DuckP and another beautiful kitty baby called dead elves.

Answer 8

hi dev

Christianity, I heard some one said like this. When Christianity approached king of England, The king called for his philosophers, they replied, if it could answer, ' from where we are and to where we are going?' Then you can take it up, then the whole nation converted along with king, it seems.

Now, as per me, any religion, we don't bring but adopted our parents religion, this is tradition.

Man is Universal not his religion. Man, coming out of his body is also Universal. Coming out of the womb was you and your body, coming out of the body you, and ??????

Answer 9

To answer the first one, the Roman empire followed by years of harsh persecution of any competing faiths. The second is more complex and has to do with society, culture, migration patterns and conquest.

Answer 10

Religious Drift.

It is kinda like genetic drift, but works on belief rather than genes. Stick a load of random religions in one area... let each new generation choose which of those religions of the previous generation they will believe in... and eventually, through random chance... all but one of the religions will eventually be eliminated.

Answer 11

Because Christianity spread though force. Many people lost their lives for not converting to Christianity.