McFuu t1_iz6xv43 wrote
When it comes to religion, there is an easy term for how they spread, "Intolerance wins". Combine that with a healthy dose of class warfare.
It's pretty complicated to try to explain the concept because it happens in different ways depending on the region, culture, and any other factor you can imagine. A very general explanation is that if a religion doesn't tolerate other religions existing it will eventually overtake and wipe out that religion. Rome's traditional thought of Pantheon of Gods actually functioned more like multiple religions. But those religions never held serious sway over one another, worst yet they were relaxed and allowed other religions to exist alongside their own. It wasn't a situation where the followers of Jupiter intentionally wiped out the followers of the other Gods saying you can't exist. Christianity stepped into this scenario and swept up quite a lot of people, mainly the poor outcasts of society, as the polytheistic temples catered mainly to the rich. Eventually through the years Christianity came to dominate, when Constantine converted a huge chunk of the country was already Christian.
Similar situation that many are familiar with is the Vikings and how the wiping out of Asatro came because the Vikings didn't care what religion people followed, but the Christians certainly did.
Other examples from Asia come to mind Burma had an early form of Buddhism I believe that was very loose and all about partying and getting drunk, one of the kings wasn't a fan of this and on a campaign came across a very devout version of Buddhism (I believe Theravada) and converted and brought it back to Burma with him and through some law making and the situation of these Monks aren't trying to rob me and get drunk and have orgys all the time, converted large portions of the population.
Thats the gist of it.
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