Alternate History What If? Christianity Never Took Off

[CarlManvers2019]

How would world history change if Christianity were never a successful religion, outside of its home origin areas and as such the Roman Empire never adopted it as State Religion?

Would there still be Monks and Priests who for whatever the reason record much knowledge and even pagan mythologies and know how to concoct alcohol

Would there be any unifying factors amongst the various peoples of the world other than whatever results of Conversion to Christianity ensue?

Would Islam still rise? Though I said that Christianity wouldn’t be much of a success outside of Israel

 

[almostinsane]

The values will be certainly different. Compassion and mercy will be less emphasized. Personal honor would be valued much more. Human rights may never have been conceived.

 

[CarlManvers2019]

The values will be certainly different. Compassion and mercy will be less emphasized. Personal honor would be valued much more. Human rights may never have been conceived.

What about Pragmatism? And human sacrifice?

 

[almostinsane]

What about Pragmatism? And human sacrifice?

Pragmatism would still exist. Human sacrifice would doom civilizations that practice it as in our timeline.

 

[CarlManvers2019]

Pragmatism would still exist. Human sacrifice would doom civilizations that practice it as in our timeline.

How long until science tells people that their gods don’t exist and they’re just superstitious?

I honestly don’t think that compared to Abrahamic Religions, that followers of the other pagan religions are as devout

 

[Fleiur]

How long until science tells people that their gods don’t exist and they’re just superstitious?

Okay. What do you mean? Expound?

 

[CarlManvers2019]

Okay. What do you mean? Expound?

People will no longer think of Zeus as being the cause of thunderstorms and lightning, instead with knowledge about how the weather or the rest of the physical universe works, they will no longer give credit to fictional beings

Mythology was used before Science to explain how the world came about and how and why things like the Weather and Earthquakes work the way they do

 

[Scottty]

People will no longer think of Zeus as being the cause of thunderstorms and lightning, instead with knowledge about how the weather or the rest of the physical universe works, they will no longer give credit to fictional beings
Mythology was used before Science to explain how the world came about and how and why things like the Weather and Earthquakes work the way they do

Science as you know it grew up in a Christian environment. Without Christian monotheism, you would not have the idea of all of the natural world being ordered by Divine law, and therefore comprehensible.

 

[WolfBear]

Maybe this religion could emerge as a viable alternative to Christianity in this TL? :

Mithraism - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

It could certainly inspire fine art just like Christianity could:

 

[ATP]

Science as you know it grew up in a Christian environment. Without Christian monotheism, you would not have the idea of all of the natural world being ordered by Divine law, and therefore comprehensible.

Indeed.Average pagan,when saw lighting though "god of thunder" and do not try undarstandt that.Only people who knew,that law of Nature existed,could made bulbs.
They knew,becouse religion say so - and there is no other religion then Chrystianity which say so.

 

[S'task]

Maybe this religion could emerge as a viable alternative to Christianity in this TL? :

Mithraism - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

It could certainly inspire fine art just like Christianity could:

Highly unlikely. What people tend to forget was that Christianity was a religion of the lower classes and spread predominately among them until it got to the point where the elites HAD to acknowledge it. This ground up approach is one of the major reasons why Christianity displaced all other major religions of the period, it actually had popular support of the people, it offered the lower classes and slaves hope and honor in a way no other contemporary religion did.

Mithraism was predominately a MILITARY religion and religion of the elites. It would not have caught on among the lower class population as, well, we can see historically. The Mithrandic cults, while clearly wealthy and able to produce fine arts, appear to have been scattered and smaller than the Christians of the time (this again points to a greater degree of wealth). The fact we have no surviving Mithrandic texts concerning their teachings or theology is also makes it hard to say it would manage to spread, as one of the major ways Christianity spread was via the written word that we've found numerous examples of.