Augustine claims in his book The City of God, that Christianity is the reason for the fall of Rome. This book discusses how Christianity contributed to Rome’s downfall and what Christianity might have done for Roman beliefs. Augustine proposes this theory to explain how Rome collapsed. There are a lot of other theories on the subject, but Augustine’s is largely accepted. He reveals the many flaws in Roman religion and explains to the reader that Christianity could have saved Rome had it been accepted. In Saint Augustine’s City of God, Augustine shows how the Roman Empire failed to be religiously successful by pointing out the faults of Roman belief and the superiority of Christianity.
Over time, the Roman Empire’s flawed beliefs led to distrust and loyalty among its citizens. In Saint Augustine’s book City of God, he discusses how the Roman Empire would have survived if they had accepted Christianity as part of their culture. It was illegal to practice Christianity in the Roman Empire. They kept their religion very low-key. While they believed in Roman gods on the surface, the truth was that Jesus was the one who ruled the heart. The Roman Empire made a mistake by failing to destroy Christianity. This rotted it from the inside. When the Romans discovered the power of Christ, they began to discredit their own gods. Augustine called these “man-made” gods demons in 705 Augustine. Roman gods do not always make good role models. This is why many of the “heroes”, or famous romans, were not great people. Any large community needs a role model. Roman gods were anything but good role models. In fact, they were rude, vain, and full of mischief. These man-made deities were notorious for their immorality, which included sacrificing virgins, animals, and throwing parties as punishments for “crimes committed by the gods”. It was because of their own culture that the Romans were unaware of any immorality. Romans celebrating their gods was considered a crime by others, but the romans never thought of it that way. I was interested in the fact that the romans believed they had gods who were mortal. For the Romans, religion consisted of stories and festivals. Their afterlife was not clear. Yet they worshipped gods who had committed mortal crimes. The romans were tricked into believing whatever the senate told them. They were nothing more than sycophants, allowing the senate to impose their beliefs on them. The senate was afraid that citizens would secretly practice Christianity, so they hushed it up. The Roman senate were the popular girls of the school. They would overpower anything that threatened their power and take control. The Roman religion and all its gods perished with the Empire. What returned to life after the fall of the Roman Empire? Christianity. Christianity is the most widely practiced religion in the world. Even though the Roman empire refused to accept Christianity into its society, other countries have quickly adopted the christian belief system.
Christianity is now practiced in all parts of the world. Today, Christianity is the world’s largest religion. Many people are fond of mentioning that church and the state are distinct. While it’s true that today the church doesn’t rule the state, this wasn’t the case in the Middle Ages. During Middle Ages, it was the Church that ruled over state. Although no one admitted that publicly, the Pope had the same power as the emperor. The emperor was only a symbol, not the actual brains behind the operation. Augustine described how the Church did some terrible things during this period, but still used God to buffer them. People became Christian-crazed when they dedicated themselves to Jesus Christ and the Church. It’s not the same as it used to be, though there are still many strict christians. But there is no doubt that power is clearly separated between state and church. Religion and the church are still closely intertwined in modern society, although it is not as powerful today. They still mention religion in their speeches.
