May 15th, 2006
 |
|
The overwhelming majority of the Byzantines were conscious of their continuity with the ancient Greeks. Even though the ancient Greeks were not Christians, the Byzantines regarded them as their ancestors.
|
|
|
| Republican officials, who were granted anonymity to speak publicly because of the sensitivity of the situation, acknowledged the difficult political climate but said they planned to rally conservatives by underscoring the contrast with Democrats and emphasizing the recent confirmations of two conservatives to the Supreme Court. |
| Midterm Congressional elections tend to be won by whichever side can motivate more true believers to vote. Dr. Dobson and other conservatives are renewing their complaints about the Republicans at a time when several recent polls have shown sharp declines in approval among Republicans and conservatives. And compared with other constituencies, evangelical Protestants have historically been suspicious of the worldly business of politics and thus more prone to stay home unless they feel clear moral issues are at stake. |
|
|
Constantine is generally considered to be the first Christian emperor. Tradition holds that before a battle at the gates of Rome in 312 against a rival emperor, Constantine saw a flaming cross in the sky with the words “By this sign, conquer” [In Hoc Signo Vinces]. Whatever the actual case may be, there is no question that after 312 Constantine began to shower favors on Christianity, and the religion, which had been persecuted under Diocletian, became a “permitted religion” and steadily increased its power as years passed, apart from a short-lived return to pagan predominance under the emperor Julian. Although the empire was not yet “Byzantine” under Constantine, Christianity would become one of the defining characteristics of the Byzantine Empire, as opposed to the pagan Roman Empire.
|
|
|
Posted in Red-State America | By Willie Buck Merle