You said, "That's putting the cart before the horse a little bit there. There was no central Christian org in Rome while Rome was still pagan--and Rome was officially pagan until Constantine made Christianity legal. There was a Christian faction in Rome, but it wasn't central to squat; the apostles had dispersed far and wide, with Rome being only one of the places they dispersed to. What it sounds like to me is that you're repeating the Roman Catholic line of revisionist history."

The part about Roman Catholic revisionist history hurts a little coming from someone who does not know me or where I am coming from. You talk about how I am trying to put the cart before the horse, but what about you? I always thought we should try to understand someone before we judge.

While historical proof is sketchy and inferences have to be made, I think its likely that Constantine was not any more a believer in Christ than in Sol Invictus at the time of his accension to the throne. His selection of Christianity was most likely for political expediency and this poses an interesting question. Why would a politicial opportunist align himself with a religion whose influence "wasn't central to squat"?

I contend that the Christian church had many followers within his army and within the population of Rome itself. These people were a means to an end and his conversion was a way of consolidating power.

As for the Pagan nature of Rome, it was Constantine himself who tried to make it the most Holy City outside of Jeruselem for the Christian faith. Look at the churches he built and the honors he conferred upon the Pope. Just because I recognized the Pope as the senior of the Patriarchs, however, does not mean I am saying he was the driving force behind the council. If your Catholic Revisionist statement was meant to infer I said that, then you are connecting dots in a way that is neither supported by my statements or my intentions.

The council presided over by Constantine was more a discussion between the religous leaders of Asia Minor, Syria & Egypt with almost no representation from the west. As such, I can easily agree that the Pope's influence was minimal at best.

While the Catholic Church may have had a huge influence on various translations of the bible, it was a nonfactor in the selection of the books to be included in the bible.