Rome accepted many different religions, and all Constantine did was make Christianity one of the accepted religions. Of course he then began the immediate persecution of pagans and Christians who believed differently, which lasted until Julian, who also brought back exiled Chrisians (really angering the local church powers). They later started persecuting pagans again, and when that got old started persecuting other Christians, with Maximus introducing the charge of heresy.
And 3,500 years later, the Jews' religion survives.
And Hindus with maybe 5,000 years and those into Zoroastrianism, at about 3,700 years. It is interesting that one of the reasons Jews still survive is because of a pagan, Cyrus the Great, who did not believe in forcing his religion on conquered territories. Yes, the concepts of human rights and religious freedom are not Christian.
On second thought, given the precincts you gents obviously frequent, perhaps that's not a safe question
I attended 9/11 services at the very cathedral where Martin Luther defended his theses. How about you?
Constantine didn't even dare let himself be baptized until he was nearly on his death bed for fear he would be torn asunder by the pagans in Rome.
And we won't even talk about Julian, the last of the non-Christian emperors of Rome.
I doubt that Christians persecuted pagans to nearly the same degree pagans persecuted Christians in the centuries following Christ's resurrection. I won't recount the hundreds of stories of martyrs torn to pieces by wild animals, or flayed to the bone for the amusement of Roman crowds. No, that bit of reverse victimization won't stand.
And Hindus with maybe 5,000 years and those into Zoroastrianism, at about 3,700 years.
See a lot of Zoroastrians, do ya? Hinduism, for all its tenacity, didn't have much evangelizing power, since even today it hasn't spread very far from its origins. And it can hardly be said to have defined much of Western civilization, can it?
the concepts of human rights and religious freedom are not Christian.
They may not have originated with Christianity, but they most certainly are Christian. They're not particularly Judaic, especially the one about religious freedom. But Christianity certainly promotes human rights, subject to -- as with all things -- the will of God.
I attended 9/11 services at the very cathedral where Martin Luther defended his theses. How about you?
I did not attend 9/11 services at the very cathedral where Martin Luther defended his theses. Since he was forced to defend them on numerous occasions, I'm not sure if you're talking about Wittenberg, Augsburg, or Heidelberg. However, I did not attend 9/11 services at any of those cathedrals.
Please don't tell the Pope.