In St. Augustine's City of God, Augustine uses the argument that Christianity led to the fall of Rome. The book describes why Christianity led to the fall of Rome and also what Christianity could have helped with Roman beliefs. Augustine proposes this theory of how Rome fell, although there are many other controversial theories regarding how the Empire collapsed, Augustine's theory is widely supported. He points out all the flaws in Roman beliefs and tells the reader how Christianity could have saved the people of Rome if they had accepted it. In St. Augustine's City of God, Augustine uses the flaws of Roman beliefs and the greatness of the Christian God to show how the Romans failed in the religious aspect of their empire, thus leading the empire down a path of self-destruction. plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The beliefs of the Roman Empire were flawed, and over the years their inadequate religious views led to the distrust and loyalty of its citizens. In the book City of God by Saint Augustine he talks about how the Roman Empire could have endured for a long time if it had accepted Christianity into its culture. In the Roman Empire, Christianity was kept very secret, because it was illegal to follow that religion. The citizens kept a very low tone, on the outside they had to believe in the Roman gods, but on the inside their heart belonged to Jesus. One of the errors that the Roman Empire could not completely destroy was Christianity, and for this reason it rot the empire from within. Once citizens learned of the greatness of this Christian god, their own gods became an embarrassment. Augustine addresses these man-made gods, calling them "All the gods of the nation are demons" (705 Augustine). Roman gods are not necessarily great role models, which is why some of the famous Roman "heroes" are not necessarily great people. In any large community of people a good role model is a must. Unlike the Roman gods who were the opposite of a good role model, they were vain, spiteful and clearly rude. These man-made gods featured some very immoral ways, such as sacrificing virgins and animals, and also holding feasts for the "crimes of the gods" (Augustine 243) although for the citizens they were not crimes. The Romans didn't think what they were doing was immoral, because it was the only culture they knew. For others what the Romans celebrated was a crime, but since he was their god the Romans would never have seen it as such a thing. This aspect of the book where Roman citizens believed in mortal deities interested me. All the Romans had to practice their religion were stories and festivals, they didn't necessarily have a clear path to their afterlife. They believed in the gods who committed such deadly crimes, yet they still worshiped them as gods. In a way I feel that the Roman people were deceived out of a true religion, because they were forced to believe whatever the Senate came up with, they were just sitting ducks for whatever the Senate wanted to put in their heads, even if the citizens deserve a little credit for introducing Christianity to the empire and all that. Christianity was silenced throughout the empire, because the senate would freak out if they found out that citizens were secretly practicing Christianity. The Roman Senate was basically made up of the popular school girls, if they thought there was something that would threaten their power (like Christianity) they would take over..