How did christianity affect Rome?
It divided the empire at a crucial time in its history. The late empire (200 AD and on) was besieged by barbarians along the northern border and prone to civil war from within. That alone was enough to drag it down, but Christianity added another complication. The Roman emperors typically saw Christians as enemies of the status quo, and so persecuted them severely, dividing the population and adding to the chaos. That is until the emperor Constantine converted to Christianity in the early 300s AD, when Christianity became the dominant religion. But after that many emperors persecuted non-christians, causing yet more chaos. It wasn’t so much Christianity itself that caused the problem. It was more that there was a big difference in religious beliefs, which combined with religious intolerance, led to destabilization of the Empire.
