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Old January 22nd, 2011 #9
procopius
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Alex seems to be obsessed with this topic.

The Greeks, Romans (+ Roman Citizens), and Vikings gave up on their pagan religion.

By the time the first Christian evangelists showed up in Greece, the Greek intellectuals already considered their tribal Gods to be myths. The Romans did the same.

By the time the Roman republic fell, the Roman priests were considered a joke, marriage was in decline, divorce was easy, and they stopped having babies (sound familiar). Augustus Caesar tried to fix this but it was too late.

There was massive apathy in spiritual matters in the late Roman Empire and the citizens looked to the Orientals for salvation. The most popular were the Cult of Isis, Cult of Mithra, and Cult of Jesus Christ. All of them Oriental cults. Of course, we know which cult won out and became the official religion of Western Civilization.

The Vikings peacefully converted over time as well. There was no military expedition into Scandinavia from the Christians. The Christians of Europe barely had a standing military in their lands (during the time of Vikings), and of course, this made them easy prey to Viking raids.

The Vikings themselves, considered there to be a supreme unnamed God that would come one day and rule over the world after Asgard fell and the Norse Gods were vanquished. So the ingredients for conversion were already there.