It became the official religion of the Empire, later on in that century. Five
Bishops or patriarchs located in Alexendria, Antioch, Constantinople, Jerusalem
and Rome were given church authority. Power soon became concentrated in
Constantinople and Rome. Due to the expansion of Islam during the 7th century
CE, throughout the Middle East, gradually these 2 Christian centres grew apart
in bot belief and practice. The split between the Roman Catholic and the Eastern
Orthodox Church was formalised in 1054 CE and remain in effect today. In the
16th century a split within the western church occurred due to the Protestant
Reformation. This movement further divided into what are now thousands of
individual and groups of associations.
Life after death is a prime Christian belief. However, the destination of an
individual after death varies greatly amongst Christians. The fact that people
are born and remain sinful, they will eternally be punished in Hell unless they
are saved by trusting Jesus as a Lord and Saviour is a common belief of
Protestant Christians.
On the other hand, Roman Catholics believe that salvation comes from God and is
channelled church sacrament to sinful and repentant people. They believe that
most people go to purgatory, which is a temporary Hell, few go directly to
Heaven and others go permanently to Hell. Hell is interpreted symbolically by
religious liberals instead of an actual place because they reject the concept of
a loving God, creating a place of eternal torment.
The status of Christianity: out of the world's population 33% of humans regard
themselves as Christians, a percentage, which has remained stable for many
decades. Islam is the 2nd most popular religion at about 20%, however it is
growing and it is anticipated that it will be the dominant world religion in
this century. 88% of Americans and Canadians consider themselves Christians but
this number has been declining over the past years.
The prime cause of this change is believed to be the sudden increase in
non-theists, such as Agnostics, Atheists, Humanists etc. as well as the increase
in the followers of minority religions caused largely by immigration. It has
also been affected by the emergence of new spiritual and religious movements
such as New Age, Wicca and Neopagan religions.
In North America, Christianity is a severely divided faith and is often
categorised into conservative, mainline and liberal wings. Many Fundamentalist
and Evangelical Christians regard saved individuals as the only true Christians.
They maintain separate religious churches, radio stations, publishing houses,
local ministerial associations etc. even videos. They tend to look upon
Christianity as a living relationship with their Saviour.
Mainline Christians tend to be much more inclusive and accept anyone who follows
the teachings of Jesus Christ as Christians. Liberal Christians agree with
mainline Christians but are even more inclusive. Liberal theologians such as
those who are part of the Jesus seminar have renounced and completely
reinterpreted traditional Christian beliefs.