Yes, Peter K, I am aware of that. The purpose of the Council of Nicea (Nicene Creed first codified in 325, and then again in 381, to amend the first version), was, among other things, to get the various bishops to stop arguing among themselves and frivolously excommunicating each other over petty disagreements about doctrine, particularly the nature of Jesus. Was Jesus God incarnate (in which case, his suffering on the cross was pure showmanship, hence, phony), or was he a mortal human, subject to all the human frailties (in which case, he was lesser being than God)? Neither of these positions was acceptable, but there were those who insisted that a choice had to be made. And what was his relation to the Holy Spirit? And just what the heck is the Holy Spirit, anyway?   The whole thing was an orgy of argumentative nit-picking by a bunch of people who were less concerned with what Jesus taught than they were about one-upping each other. All of this was very much in the nature of "How many angels can dance on the point of a pin?" and had nothing really to do with the teachings of Jesus, which were, essentially, "Try to be a little bit nicer to each other and maybe we can all get along."

Constantine rammed the creed through the council at Nicea mainly to try to consolidate Christianity into one body or movement so he could better control it. But contrary to AR282's earlier statement, Christianity had become a substantial force in Roman society before Constantine came along. Constantine's main concern seemed to be to gain control over the movement primarily to manipulate it as a means of enhancing his own political power (not too much unlike our current fearless leader). "Dogma," said Emperor Constantine, "is what I say it its!"

All of this is detailed in Charles Freeman's The Closing of the Western Mind,which I recommended above.

Really peculiar view of history you have there, AR282. Speculation.

Interesting, though.

Parable from an episode of recent, fairly popular television series:   

Kahless, the Klingon Messiah, is resurrected. Lieutenant Worf is extremely excited to meet him. But as the episode unfolds, it is learned that this is not actually Kahless, he is a clone created from the DNA of the original Kahless. Worf is extremely disappointed. He is contemptuous as he prepares to beam the clone of Kahless down to his next destination. The clone is fully aware of Worf's disappointment and says to him, "If the words are true, what does it matter who says them?"

Don Firth