Delicate Offers a Truce

[Crossless2.0]

But we could very well blame religion for the fall of the Roman Empire, as well. I'm not saying religion is the only thing behind all of these changes, but it sure as hell is one of them.

I'd blame an overextended empire, the splintering of East and West, a series of weak leaders, internal political and dynastic turmoil, "barbarian" incursions, declining revenue and its attendant decline in investment leading to a degraded infrastructure for the fall before I'd blame religion. If anything, state-endorsed Christianity may have provided some social cohesion across vast distances and between people who otherwise might have had little in common and might arguably have forestalled, for a short time, a fall that was already in motion.