The church was a pre-existing entity at the time of Constatine, already several centuries old, with ideological practice at "rendering unto Caesar what is Caesar's".
The status of the Christian Church at that time is quite irrelevant to any discussion of Christian influence on Western Civilization. By the time there was any Western Civilization to influence, the line between Church and State was virtually unrecognizable. They may have been nominally separate entities, but for close to a thousand years the church remained the dominant political, social, and cultural influence in Europe. Not coincidentally, we remember that period as the dark ages.
The eventual deterioration of religious influence was driven not by the retreat of the church from political life, but by the deterioration of the church into complete politicization and corruption under the Renaissance popes.
The details are infinitely debatable, but the point remains that the political, economic, and scientific advancement of Europe were achieved in spite of the Christian religion, not because of it. The pretense that Christianity is in some way superior to Islam must be dropped: the West has advanced not because we had a better religion, but because we forced religion back into the church and fought to keep it there. That battle continues, and if we lose it our current troubles will seem insignificant by comparison with what we will get. |
