Quote: It wasn't "preaching and converting" that spread the faith, it was "rape and pillage".
That's not exactly a fair representation of how it was done though. Estimates are that 5% of the population were xtian in the early 4th century but the appellation "xtian" conveyed a number of different meanings because there were so many groups which later were classified as "heretical." The group which supported Constantine were the ones who won and as the 4th century rolled along and the various Roman emperors simply made it impossible for loyal citizens NOT to become xtians. Of course, many became Arians which was something of an ass-kicking for the proto-orthodox but eventually they were proscribed out of existence.
Among the barbarian tribes in the 4th century the church merely contented itself with getting the various chieftains to call themselves xtians. They were still the same murdering thugs that they were they day before but that did not matter to the church. It was all about power. Among the tribes if theking said he was a xtian then it was treason for any member of the tribe to claim not to be. It was an effective mechanism perhaps best demonstrated by the massacre of Verdun.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massacre_of_Verden
Quote:The Massacre of Verden, Bloodbath of Verden, or Bloody Verdict of Verden (German Blutgericht von Verden) was a massacre of 4,500 captive Saxons in October 782. During the Saxon Wars, the Saxons rebelled against Charlemagne's invasion and subsequent attempts to christianize them from their native Germanic paganism. The massacre is recorded as having occurred in what is now Verden in Lower Saxony, Germany.
We have no idea how many times similar scenes were repeated as the bloody churchies spread their bullshit across Europe. They controlled the writing and they resisted writing anything which detracted from their holy horseshit.
