[Dave S]

So, why did the Pagans of the Roman Senate debate whether or not Jesus ought be ommitted to the rank of Gods?

And why not? The Romans had so many Gods and they didn't really believe in any of them. They were for political reasons. Allowing those conquered by Rome to keep their Gods as long as they also accepted the Emperor as God too, kept them in line and more docile.

[Antoninus]

The Romans had so many Gods and they didn't really believe in any of them.

You're stretching the truth here. If you had said that some Romans didn't really believe in their gods, I might agree with you. But to imply that ALL Romans did not believe in the pagan gods is simply false. Most evidence points to the fact that Romans were reasonably devoted to their divinities and had a habit of looking for the new the "god of the hour," importing popular cults from other countries (e.g., Serapis, Osiris, Mithras, etc.). Belief in the various pagan divinities waxed and waned throughout Roman history as would be expected. It seemed to finally wane for good during the 3rd century AD, possibly as a result of the military, political, and economic chaos that hit the empire during those days.

In its final incarnation, Roman paganism became more of a neo-Platonic syncretism saying that all the gods were just modes of one god, Sol Invictus. It is perhaps for this reason that many formerly polytheistic Romans were able to make the transition to Christian monotheism rather easily during the 5th and 6th centuries AD.

None of this, of course, contradicts the idea that it was by the Divine Providence of the Hebrew God that all this came to pass....