> the result of mutually beneficial agreements made on the spot to secure wealth and power between the parties to the agreement ... Look at the list of grievances it's mostly about money.
This is a very superficial perspective, born of a bad recollection of history.
Christianity gained dominance and power during the fall of Rome, a movement born on the streets of a decaying society, with the Christians prosecution having the negative effect of drawing the attention of the public ... a public which was hungry for a saner sense of moral values.
The power grabbing taking place was only to secure their freedom of religion, at least initially.
Of course, as with all religions ... Christianity was used to control the masses and did ended being used for power grabbing. But that's mostly because uneducated masses are stupid as cows ... and you can credit the translated Bibles for people's willingness to learn how to read.
This is a very superficial perspective, born of a bad recollection of history.
Christianity gained dominance and power during the fall of Rome, a movement born on the streets of a decaying society, with the Christians prosecution having the negative effect of drawing the attention of the public ... a public which was hungry for a saner sense of moral values.
The power grabbing taking place was only to secure their freedom of religion, at least initially.
Of course, as with all religions ... Christianity was used to control the masses and did ended being used for power grabbing. But that's mostly because uneducated masses are stupid as cows ... and you can credit the translated Bibles for people's willingness to learn how to read.