Anyone know why Constantine converted to Christianity?

Question

And then named Christianity the official religion of the Roman empire.
10 points to the first one with the right answer.
And hey, atheists, rather than some ignorant pompass answer, why not educate yourselves and find the real answer.

None yet, keep trying.

Answer 1

I know the answer and I'm Atheist.

The Roman Empire was in a great deal of trouble. The Empire was fractured, they had reached the limit of their expansion and were stopped by natural barriers from further expanding, there weren't enough born citizens to run the country properly because they were so spread out that their lines were actually thinned, the slaves were running things basically but were treated so badly by the Roman citizens that they absolutely loathed their masters, and those outside the Empire started to see cracks in the armor of an ancient civilization that would allow its destruction.

Constantine was far from a stupid man and was noticing that his country was in dire straights and the Christian religion seemed to be uniting people. So, in a very desperate attempt to unify his people, he proclaimed himself Christian and that Christianity was the new official religion. Then he and his cronies promptly started a reign of terror across the lands of the west and the middle east of murder, torture and mayhem that lasted for nearly 1500 years.

What he did worked in a way. The Roman Empire still fell eventually but it ensured that this terrible religion would manage to survive to terrify people for millenia.

And don't give me this utter crap about how "he had a vision" or some such of total garbage. History tells that Constantine remained a pagan, worshipping in private, until the day he died.

YOU do the research on that. For me, if I hadn't met my first husband, I'd be living in Rome right now studying the ancient Roman, and Grecian, civilizations for a living. I do know a little bit about it.

Answer 2

Because for over three hundred years the roman empire had forbidden Christianity, but by the fourth century there were way too many people following the Jewish cult of Christianity, too many to eradicate or censure, so the roman emperor Constantine figured out that in order to continue ruling they had to accept the religion of their constituency,therefore named Christianity, the official religion,BUT:
No so fast, this was only a front, in order to continue governing the roman empire said, ok we accept Christianity, but there's a catch,we do it our way, and then created a whole new set of rules that weren't from the original form of Christianity but a set of rules that clearly made it just a continuation of the roman empire, like the pope is the maximus pontifice (the title given to the Emperor) forming The Roman Catholic Church.
So to answer your question
To continue the rule of the roman empire, but with a new name The Roman Catholic Church.

Answer 3

His mother Hellen was a Lapsi (paganistic Christian). She had visions and supposedly found the path of the Cross in Jerusalem, and the tomb of Peter.

Based upon her influence he adopted the catholic churches and formed them into the Catholic Church in order to better govern both the East & West at the same time. Unity was always his desire.

At the council of Nicea he presented himself in elaborate Eastern dress as a very ornate King. The churches who joined him were rejected by the Cathari (the pure).

When Constantine could not increase the membership in his paganistic Catholic Churches he started offering incentives, like freeing any slave who joined. When that did not work he resorted to the fail safe of every government religion. He persecuted our fore-fathers in the faith. From the time of Constantine our churches have been persecuted by 'Christians'.

Answer 4

His mother was a Christian, which is where he was first exposed to it.

The reason he converted the Roman Empire is because he believed that his military success was due to the Christian God.

Answer 5

Constantine's conversion


In 312 AD, the Great Persecution was still going on in the Eastern part of the Roman Empire (though not really in the West). But then Constantine became a Roman Emperor. He had had a vision which made him convert to Christianity. As soon as he won the Battle of the Milvian Bridge, Constantine seems to have thought of himself as a Christian. That same winter, Constantine was already writing letters to Christian bishops about church controversies and had bishops with him at court to advise him about Christian issues. One of the first controversies that Constantine heard about was the Donatist controversy.

By 313 AD, Constantine and his co-emperor Licinius issued the Edict of Milan, which specifically guaranteed religious freedom to Christians throughout the Roman Empire. The Edict of Milan states that:

"we should let both the Christians and all others follow whatever religion they wanted to, so that whatever God there is in heaven may be happy and pleased with us and with all our subjects."


This is what Constantine's Christianity was all about. He was mainly not interested in religion but in politics. If the Christian god was going to help him win battles, then he was going to worship the Christian god. Whatever worked.
Constantine got a lot of Christian advisors at his court to tell him what the Christian God wanted, so he could be sure to keep God on his side. His advisors told him that God wanted Constantine to give a lot of money and land to the Church, and that God wanted the Church not to have to pay taxes, and Constantine did all those things.

After Constantine finally got rid of Licinius and became emperor all by himself, he went on a tour of the Eastern part of the Empire to see what was going on there. He was upset to find that the Christians there were fighting over the Arian controversy, and he tried to settle their argument, but not very successfully.

When he founded the city of Constantinople (named after himself) in 324 AD, Constantine made it clear that this was going to be a Christian city, not like Rome which was still the capital of the old Roman religion. He had his children taught by Christian teachers (Arians).

Answer 6

He had a "vision" of a symbol, and a dream of Jesus telling him to use that certain symbol. He added the symbol to the soldiers shields and won the battle.

And by the way, I am atheist and already knew the answer without looking it up and copy/pasting it.

Answer 7

He claimed a vision; however logic suggests that he "saw the writing on the wall" and used the church to consolidate his power.

Answer 8

Yes. He was under the impression that Jesus was some form of Solar deity, along the lines of Osiris, and convertion to his name might bring him luck in battle.

I suspect that's not the answer you want, but it's nevertheless correct.

Answer 9

He didnt, actually. Sorry. Christians have such a hard time distinguishing between reality and their fairy tales.

Answer 10

This National Geographic article, "The Lost Gospel of Judas," might be helpful.