The first thread had an interesting premise that got derailed (the fault is partially mine) in a political fight.
So here is the original premise and an additional proposal from me.
1. Suppose in the aftermath of the initial Arab explosion, the Byzantine Emperor realizes that the Arabs were able to take advantage of religious divides among the Christians. He decides that in the long-run, this sort of thing could be rather dangerous and decides to strong-arm the Patriarch of Constantinople and the Pope to forbid persecution of heterodox Christians.
(deciding the degrees of "heresy" permitted will be interesting--perhaps the Nicene Creed, not the Chalcedonian one, is the standard?)
If the more docile Patriarch goes along with this but the Pope rebels, we might have an earlier version of the Iconoclastic schism.
2. Julian the Apostate returns alive from the Persian campaign. Due to his popularity among the soldiery, he reigns for awhile. Although Christianity at this point is the majority faith, by killing the Christians who are prone to violence against pagans and each other, he might be able to "beat the persecutory tendencies" out.
Of course, his successor might be able to undo this, so if you want to stick, perhaps he appoints a man of similar temperment (either a pagan or a Christian who does NOT believe in persecuting "heretics" or pagans).
So here is the original premise and an additional proposal from me.
1. Suppose in the aftermath of the initial Arab explosion, the Byzantine Emperor realizes that the Arabs were able to take advantage of religious divides among the Christians. He decides that in the long-run, this sort of thing could be rather dangerous and decides to strong-arm the Patriarch of Constantinople and the Pope to forbid persecution of heterodox Christians.
(deciding the degrees of "heresy" permitted will be interesting--perhaps the Nicene Creed, not the Chalcedonian one, is the standard?)
If the more docile Patriarch goes along with this but the Pope rebels, we might have an earlier version of the Iconoclastic schism.
2. Julian the Apostate returns alive from the Persian campaign. Due to his popularity among the soldiery, he reigns for awhile. Although Christianity at this point is the majority faith, by killing the Christians who are prone to violence against pagans and each other, he might be able to "beat the persecutory tendencies" out.
Of course, his successor might be able to undo this, so if you want to stick, perhaps he appoints a man of similar temperment (either a pagan or a Christian who does NOT believe in persecuting "heretics" or pagans).