Homosexuals are a small proportion of the population. Annoying them would not make them emperor popular, but banning pagan ceremonies would cause far more discontent, because they are a greater proportion of the population.
Coups tend to resolve one way or the other quite quickly, but religious conflicts drag on and are more personal to individual citizens.
The pagan customs were banned in 393. Rome fell in 410.
I'm not saying its the fault of Christianity. But maybe its a 'United we stand, divided we fall' situation?
but banning pagan ceremonies would cause far more discontent, because they are a greater proportion of the population.
Suppose this interpretation was correct, what does it say about the current left-wing approach to Christianity?
Also, paganism was never a unified thing, and by the late Roman empire most of the leadership wasn't ethnically Italian (much less Roman).
If it's worth saying, but not worth its own post (even in Discussion), then it goes here.
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