From: [fon g g] at [crsa.bu.edu] (Matt Riggsby)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: Religion in RPGs
Date: 12 Jun 93 18:15:08 GMT

In a previous message, Morgoth the Mad sez:
>was  to small to be a worry to the authorities.,,.. Only when enough 
>influencial
>people became christians did it become a power.. Especially when Contantine
>made it the official religeon... Peer pressure helped, but making the religion
>the official religion went a along way, people wanted to show thier loyalty to
>the Empire so they became christian, or they thought wow such a fad, lets
>becoem christian.....
>If the Emperor is christian, then why not me!! Of course soem fo the emperors
>gave people a choice, or later a choice of life or death..
>Military power and technology went a long way to bring others to the fold..

Constantine (or, at least, Galerius and Licinius) only decriminalized
Christianity and urged toleration.  They more or less had to by that time,
given the number of Christians in the empire.  We really can't speak of 
Christianity as an official religion until the emperors gave Christians
prefered tax status and, in the later half of the fourth century, started
persecuting pagans.  My point, I think, was that Christianity replaced 
paganism over pretty much the entire Mediterranean basin without any kind of 
official help.  Official recognition was, essentially, a rubber stamp on an
already completed transition.  Arms and technology had little or nothing to
do with it.  

I'd like to digress to express a disreputable opinion of mine.  I suspect
that one of the major reasons for the initial spread of Christianity across
the ancient world was that, unlike most brands of European paganism, 
Christianity required that its god be worshiped exclusively.  The average
Roman's religious life was rather eclectic.  He might have a favorite god,
but would give offerings to whatever god seemed most expedient under the
circumstances.  Christianity, on the other hand, cut off other religions.
I think it appropriate to point out that Christianity was far less
successful in the Sassanian (pre-Muslim) Persian empire, where the 
worship of the emperor was likewise exclusive.  

Of course, we can't ignore other factors, such as the rampant religious
experimentation of the later imperial period which gave Christianity fertile
ground in which to take root, Greek philosophical works which made the
eastern religion more accessible to a Roman audience, and the rather
comforting Christian afterworld.

>[mention of Anglo-Saxon conversions deleted]

Also conversions in the east throughout Late Antiquity and the Medieval
period.  Germanic barbarians heading east, Slavs, Russians, etc.  When
ascribing the spread of Christianity to military power, I think it's
important to point out who is getting converted and where.  The large
conversions mentioned above (Anglo-Saxons, Slavs, etc.) were, so far
as I can tell, largely political in nature.  Rulers and rulers' families
converted to obtain valuable alliances with the Byzantine empire and, later,
other powerful Christian nations (e.g.:  the upstart Charlemagne's pseudo-
empire).  While the alliances were at least partially to obtain military
support, advantages in trade and chances to legitimate the local ruler's own
power were equally important.  

What's missing from all of this is bands of technologically superior troops
wandering into villages and beating up everybody who won't convert, which is
what the "military power and [superior] technology" tends to suggest.  By the
time the Christians have enough military power in a region to make conversion
by force an option, the area has probably been pretty much Christianized
anyway.  

>Charlemagne c.600..

Crowned Christmas day, 800 AD.  I assume the 6 is a typo.  Despite attacks on
pagans at home, he carried on a rather courteous correspondance with my
favorite caliph Haroun al-Raschid.  

>Justinian c.400/500

Ruled 518-527. 

>[suggestion to move this to where we can do some real damage deleted]

I dunno.  The thought occurs to me that this kind of historical debate can
be useful for people building their own campaign histories by giving them
either source material to steal verbatim or just a more complex understanding
of how various historical situations resolved themselves.  Opinions?  Is
anyone but me and the guy in Alaska paying attention to Ecclesiastical
History-Fest '93? 

>Morgoth the Mad lives in Rogue AIs everywhere!

Some years ago, I ran a berserker named Morgoth the Mad.  Coincidence?  Or
sign from Allah?  You be the judge.  

ObFRP:  Just got GURPS Arabian Nights.  Loved it.  Looks like SJG has finally
been forced to admit to fantasy as an operative principle in a fantasy game.

DISCLAIMER:  Don't take my word for it.  Check out Ostrogorsky, Obolensky,
and Vasiliev.