The New Gospel

But only the ignorant or the malicious could claim that Christianity had not changed the world for the better.  First of all the resolute assertion by Christians of belief in the one God, while showing complete loyalty to the state, finally overcame the absolutizing of political power and the divinization of the ruler.  In the face of the collapse of morals in the great cities of the later period of the empire, the church indefatigably inculcated the elementary commandments of the Gods of Israel.  Thus Christianity proved to be a moral power which deeply shaped society in the long process of transformation.