Was the death of Hellenic and Norse paganism a bad thing?

[PSOL]

Now I don't cry for the loss of religions old and new but the Christianization of Europe coincided with massive acts of brutality and destruction of livelihoods more fulfilling then the clout the Abrahamics with their vastly more stratified society brought in. I am of the opinion that the cultural tyranny of those who spread Christianity, at this point immensely expired from being a religion of reform, ruined things until Christianity started self-destructing and fragmenting with the Reformation and revolutions of the late 18^th century onward.

The level of cultural imperialism and feigned ignorance of what Christianity did to expand itself in Europe is unsurprising coming out of Evangelicals here, what's a downer is that a few people who should know better are agreeing with this notion and the falsehoods spread by the Abrahamics.

[PSOL]

Now I don't cry for the loss of religions old and new but the Christianization of Europe coincided with massive acts of brutality and destruction of livelihoods more fulfilling then the clout the Abrahamics with their vastly more stratified society brought in.

There are many things to praise about the classical world, but they were in fact heavily stratified societies, with giant slave populations, a caste system complete with aristocratic orders of patricians and (in ancient Rome) led by an Emperor who anointed himself as a divine figure with his own personal cult.

Ehh, maybe my post works best when referring to the Norse societies pre conversion.

[PSOL]

Hellenism didn't just die. It was destroyed. As was non superstitious Hellenic thought. How it was destroyed (and early and proto Christian sects too) is inherently a bad thing.

Surely you mean "subsumed"?

Not completely. I'm talking about the literal destruction of pagan worship, temples and pagans themselves. From the Edict of Milan which tolerated Christian worship it took only 16 years before Constantine was ordering the destruction of pagan temples.

There were further edicts by Constantius II and persecution under Theodosius (including the first decree that homosexuality was illegal and they were to be burned alive) ending with the absolute prohibition of non-Christian public worship. With Marcian eventually confiscating their property and condemning them to death.

Christianisation was not a morally neutral act that was undertaken at this time. Or in later times. It could be coercive, destructive and persecutory.

I'd need to look into this further. However, Christianity very rarely takes such action without a strong impetus; for instance, Norse paganism was eradicated by Charlemagne because they would not cease their guerrilla attacks against Christian churches. A notable modern example is how Varg Vikernes (Louis Cachet) burned a church because he was so anti-Christian as a Norse pagan in the 20th century.

I believe the guerrillas only did so after being forcefully invaded by the Frankish army. It was either fight or perish under the invading, forcefully assimilationist foreign armies subjugating the local population.

On a side note, I believe it was the German Saxons that revolted, not the Scandinavian population that believed in the, albeit similar, Norse mythology.