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To: Commander8
The truth is that his vision is really the figment of some Medieval poet's imagination.

I guess that explains why it appears in Eusebius of Pamphylia's "Life of Constantine" which was written contemporary to Constantine's reign. Unless you're claiming that the vision was inserted into the text by a Medieval monk? If so, please provide the textual criticism backing up that claim.

Constantine basically had what amounted to a temporary fox hole conversion. After the battle he went back to worshipping his pagan son god.

Which explains why he dedicated such stately buildings as the Chuch of the Holy Apostles in Constantinople, and the Basilica of St. John Lateran in Rome during his lifetime, in addition to many other churches. Neo-Platonists were not know for such largesse toward Christians.

When he merged the Church of Rome with the Roman Empire, it kicked off the Dark Ages

Hardly! You've been bamboozled by someone impersonating a history professor! Try reading Belloc's "Crisis of Civilization" for an introduction to the real history. If it wasn't for the Church, the accumulated knowledge and culture of antiquity would have been lost when the barbarian hordes over-ran the Western Empire. It's quite conceivable that if not for the Catholic Church saving the writings of Livy, Tacitus, Aristotle, etc. the American Republic may never have existed.

...which gave us the Inquisition, the Borgias, the St Bartholomew's Day Massacre, the Gun Powder Plot and a millennium of corruption and bloodshed that lasted until the rise of republics and democracies which followed the fall of the feudal kingdoms.

And Lord knows, the rise of secular "republics and democracies" along with atheist socialist and communist regimes have given us several centuries of uninterupted peace and quiet. You also managed to leave out the hundreds and thousands of people who lost wealth, property and lives in England simply because they were Catholics. The early history of Protestantism (particularly in England) is one of pillage and murder on a terrible scale.

Back to the history books with you!
41 posted on 08/07/2002 6:46:14 PM PDT by Antoninus
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To: Antoninus
sez you! ;-)
42 posted on 08/07/2002 6:52:32 PM PDT by american colleen
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To: Antoninus
All I know is had I lived back then, I would have either been burned at the stake or boiled in oil for refusing to kiss some statue's foot or even reading the Bible.
I thank God for the religious freedom we all have today.
51 posted on 08/08/2002 8:00:07 PM PDT by Commander8
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