Celritannia wrote:Western Rome did lose out, especially with a great loss to technology. But don't forget, anything the Church did not agree with in this time period, people were executed. Forced Conversions were a major concept, and many pagan cultures were forced to adapt Christian ways.
Western Rome didn't lose out because of Christianity, it lost out because it collapsed. And while certain areas of knowledge was lost, knowledge in other areas grew throughout medieval times. Such a view of the Church as some inquisitorial theocracy isn't really held up by academia, at least not until the actual Inquisition occurred centuries later. Science didn't develop much before the 12th century not because of Christianity, which conserved knowledge after the collapse of the Roman Empire, but because Europe was very chaotic. Centralisation by Charlemagne and other rulers led to the a technological boom during and after the 12th century. Education and society remained closely joined with Christianity, only that stability allowed technological research and development. And while its true that forced conversions occurred, they were pretty rare and usually carried out by Christian rulers such as Charlemagne. The conversion of Ireland, England and Scandinavia were mostly voluntary, although pagan-cum-Christian kings did occasionally fight pagan rulers to assert Christianity.