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This is the spinoff of an ongoing thread, and something that in my knowledge has not been well explored by AH. If the Roman Empire does survive into modern times, what happens to the world's main religions ?

The PoD assumes that the Roman Empire survives as a strong and vital unitary entity (or at most splits into WRE and ERE halves), possibly with occasional "Chinese dynastic cycle" crises, well into the Age of Exploration, it absorbs pretty much all of Europe and the Middle East, and its cultural, scientific, and technological advancement steadily proceeds up to full mastery of Renaissance technology and possibly beyond. Part of the assumed PoD is conquest of whole Germania in the 1st Century and quick development of the heavby plough, and discovery of printing in the 1st-2nd centuries.

It also assumes that China, and possibly India, follow a parallel track development, and the three main Eurasian civilizations maintain a stready circulation of trade and ideas (and eventually global imperial competition) from classical to modern times. It also assumes that neither Rome nor China ever fall into irreversible isolationism or stagnation during the entire timeframe.

The PoD also assumes that Islamic armed expansion is doomed to fail, as Roman legions would swiftly crush it. Apart from this, what happens to the religious landscape ? Would Christianity still rise to dominance in the lack of Rome's collapse ? Would another mystery religion take its place ? Would the Empire remain home to many different competing mystery cults ? Could Roman civic religion become the rough equivalent of Confucianism, an expression of cultural loyalty ? Would some Eastern religion spread into the Empire ? Could Islam arise and spread peacefully ?
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