the christianization of europe comes down to us in various forms, much of it from indigenous sources. the imperial accounts of emperors and warrior-priests are generally of questionable value, as they were designed to uphold the rule of the court.

this took a very long time, with some areas of eastern europe not christianizing until the napoleonic period. so, the stories are diverse and unique.

one of the more well told stories is the genocide of the saxons, who lived near the border of germany and france, where it is thought that the catholic church (via charlemagne) killed upwards of 70% of the indigenous population for refusing to convert. those are numbers that rival the extermination of the american indigenous people, as a whole. ought there be any surprise when i tell you it was the same institution that was responsible?

other areas used economic coercion to convert people, by refusing them services or opportunities. others had their schools taken over - or, in some cases built - by monasteries. the sagas of northern europe are badly whitewashed, but they tell the story of a centuries long struggle between this foreign ideology of christianity and the nativist polytheism.

you can like chrisianity or not. but, stop pretending it's a european cultural treasure. it's not. it's an invading colonial force that destroyed entire cultures and civilizations.

today, the indigenous religions and cultures of europe are so thoroughly lost to history that they cannot even be speculatively reconstructed.

jagmeet singh must cut his beard.