The Romans once had a great empire, stretching across the known world. The areas of the ancient world that were not held by the Romans were full of savages, with no cities and towns, no culture. With every passing year, more and more territory fell under the Imperial hands of the great Romans.
And then, suddenly, the empire was divided. The great capital of Rome was sacked by the barbarians. The remnants of the fractured empire became isolated, knowledge held for a thousand years was lost, the world was plunged into a dark age, poverty, disease, war...
What happened in the empire to cause this? The Roman empire was once a great pagan civilization, strong and powerful. Religious groups that refused to follow the state religion and worship the Emperor as a god were persecuted, their members fed to lions for the people's amusement. Then, one emperor converted to Christianity, and he forced the whole of his people to convert as well. After the conversion, the empire fell, and plunged into the dark ages that only came to an end once the knowledge and learning of the Greeks and Romans was rediscovered in Spain, brought there by the Arabs.
So, the world was pulled out of the age of superstition thanks to the Muslims. And the moral of this story is that if you want your country to be strong, feed Christians to lions.
Or it might be "just a coincidence".
