Were other European religions better than Christianity?

[Rokcet Scientist]

Europe has a bloody history, going all the way back to the stone age. There were quite a few cultures (and with them a variety of beliefs) that came and went over a very long period of time. In any layer of the strata we care to look we find evidence of violence. Those that worshipped matriarchal gods were every bit as warlike and expansionist as those who believed in patriarchal gods. Those that believed in two gods, one god(some even no gods, in the way that we would understand gods), all crafted weapons and built forts. They settled differences with their neighbors, and even their own gods by violent means. Christianity rose in Europe in the middle ages, and contrary to popular belief they weren't pitch black. Europe had a huge explosion in population due to some novel new agricultural techniques, the ultimate effect of which was that these conflicts over differences became gradually larger. The armies of any given god or tribe or faith was no longer a warband, but a proper army. Given the increasing population and all of the tension that this would have produced, and their access to incrementally better weapons and logistics the bloody history of christian Europe seems like a continuation of the bloody history of pagan Europe on a grander scale. The found themselves capable of engaging in larger conflicts than they had been able to manage before, and so that's what they did.

Until providence – or 'God', if you prefer – intervened and killed about half of them – one hundred million people! – in only a few years! The Black Death.
Apparently that inspired the church so much that they've subsequently spent centuries trying to emulate its example: the Inquisition...