Religion in the West

Paper Summary:

This paper is an in-depth examination of the influence of the west's major religions on both classical and modern societies. Greek and Roman society are examined to illustrate how religion was first used as a political tool during these times. The conversion of Roman emperors to Christianity had a huge influence on the spread of Christianity throughout Europe. It looks at the rise of Christianity, and how minorities were affected, including the Muslims and Jews, and how during these times religion was used as a political tool to control these other populations. The author touches upon the Crusades, the Middle Ages and Protestantism in order to demonstrate Christianity' influence on policy and society during these different periods of history.

From the Paper:

"During the centuries immediately following the fall of Rome, Christianity became more and more powerful as this monotheistic faith began to conquer the older pagan beliefs. The process by which Western Europe lost both the classical religions brought to it by Greece and Rome along with its own indigenous religions and became Christian was a complex one and certainly not unified across the continent. Early European Christianity was no more perfectly uniform than classical Greek religion had been or arguably than modern European Christianity (Smith 78). Also, it should be noted that Christianity did not spread across Europe without opposition from the various native religions already being practiced, and now usually called collectively pagan. But the old gods would in general not prove to be very effective in their attempts to hold their own against the three kinds of Christianity that would spread across Europe: Roman Catholicism in the west and southwest, Protestantism in the north, and Eastern Orthodoxy in the east and southeast."

More papers on Religion in the West:

• Analytical Essay # 25744 : "Christianity in the West"
• Persuasive Essay # 106355 : "Religion in the Western Civilization"
• Term Paper # 101770 : "Zen Practitioners in the West"

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