[quote=Allan from Fallbrook]The early Christian (what I would call Catholic) church was heavily persecuted and prosecuted under Roman rule (it was a proscribed faith and practiced under pain of death) and yet Christianity not only emerged from this as a peaceful faith, it went on to convert the very empire that subjugated it (becoming the Holy Roman Empire in the bargain).

Islam had similar beginnings, although starting out later than the early Christian/Catholic church (7th century, if I’m not mistaken). Once it gained a foothold, it spread quite rapidly (almost virally) and was “evangelized” at sword point. Its gains were predominantly martial and it rapidly overtook Christianity in terms of “preparing the way of the Lord” (in this case, Allah).[/quote]

Okay a couple of things.
Calling the Holy Roman Empire a descendant of the Roman Empire is like calling Hitler the new Roman Emperor.
There is a literal line there in both cases but its misleading and in both cases not really related.
Germans don’t typically come from Italy.
The Germans (not the Deutch-or Teutonic-Germans of HRE) led by Odoacer who deposed Emperor Romulus Augustus in 476 did not then go on to abandon Rome and found the HRE (500 years later). Like Mike Meyers says: Neither Holy, nor Roman, nor an Empire.

Second, what I was saying was that Christianity came about as a resistance movement advocating peace.

Islam was born when there was no oppressive empire in need a of a resistance movement and instead there was a hunger for the solidarity of yore.

Think of it as the difference between Star Wars and Star Trek.
One is bringing the savages into the fold of the new unified and “civilized” polity (like Kirk or Muhammed).
The other is fomenting rebellion against a cruel empire through a moral shift (Jedi/rebels/Jesus).

Now that I have officially insulted world religions as well as my own cultish love of all things sci fi, I am curious as to the thoughts of others.