Skewed Lives: Constantine and Mohammed
Novermber 7, 2026
by William P. Meyers

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Mohammed (aka Muhammad) famously was the founder of Islam. The Roman Emperor Constantine is credited with establishing Christianity (Roman Catholicism) as the sole religion of the Roman Empire. Comparing the Skewed Lives of these two men can help illuminated our current state of affairs.

Though historians say they lived in different eras, from our modern, 2026 point of view they were not that far apart in time. Constantine was born in 272 AD, became emperor in 306 AD, and died in 337 AD. Mohammed was born in 570 AD (or CE) and died in 632 AD (in the Islamic calendar 622 CE is the year 0, we are now in 1448 AH. So Mohammed was born just 233 years after Constantine died. In terms of technology and science, they lived in the same pre-industrial, pre-globalization era.

The Roman Empire was in decline when Constantine (born Flavius Constatinus) was born. One sign of decline, aside from loss of territory, was that Rome had four co-emperors (the Tetrarchy). Constantine's father Constantius was briefly one of those emperors, in 305 and 306 AD. Constantine was able to defeat the other emperors in civil wars and become the sole emperor in 324.

Scholars today debate the history of the development of the myriad Christian sects between the establishment of the cult and the First Council of Nicea in 325. The Council selected among the varied Christian dogmas, practices, and scriptures, creating a new, narrow dogma, and declaring any who did not adhere to it to be heretics. Although the City of Rome was known to be founded later than the Christian churches in the great cities of Greece and Asia Minor, part of the new dogma was that the Bishop of Rome, or Pope, was the head of the Church. The Roman bishops had been pushing this idea for over a century, having create the myth that Saint Peter traveled to Rome at the end of his life and declared the bishops of Rome to be his successors until the return of Jesus, which was expected to happen very soon.

Mohammed's story was simpler. He was from a humble family and orphaned early in life. He married a wealthy woman and became a trader for her business, visiting many place in the near east including Jerusalem. He became familiar with three major religions: the native Arabic one, the Jewish sects, and the Christian sects. Keep in mind that Egypt and Palestine were still parts of the Roman Empire, and despite Constantine's reforms some now non-orthodox Christian sects still practiced in this area, likely including Gnostic Christians and Nazarenes. Eventually, he had (or claimed) revelations from an angelic voice, Gabriel. He believed God (Allah) instructed him to correct the religions of the Arabs, Christians, and Jews. This was written down in the Quran (Koran), which largely consists of retelling of Bible stories, and well as new, specific instructions from Allah. Thus (in my opinion) Islam is a reformed branch of Judaism and differs from Christianity only in that it sees Jesus as a prophet, not as God itself. Of course, humans being human, after Mohammed's death his cult, while growing very large very rapidly, immediately split into two rival branches, Shia and Sunni.

The Roman Catholic Church honors the Emperor Constantine as Saint Constantine. He stands apart from most other Christian saints on account of his violent, bloody life. He was the son of a general who became a Roman Emperor, serving in the army himself. When his father died and his soldiers proclaimed him Emperor, he led them in a bloody civil war to gain the title. Then, at intervals, he fought the other emperors until he was the last Emperor standing. Then, worried that he might be assassinated so that some other family member could take the throne, he murdered many, perhaps most, of his family relations.

It is said Constantine converted to Christianity because he prayed to the Christian god before he won one of his important battles. Was Jesus a god of War, a new incarnation of the Greek god Ares and the Roman god Mars? More likely, having spent his entire life in the army, Constantine simply thought everyone, down to the lowest citizens and slaves, should simply follow orders. Having one religion, he thought, would unite the empire. It did not turn out that way. Within a few decades most Roman subjects at least pretended to be Christian; it was dangerous to do otherwise. But wars continued. The western Roman Empire collapsed in 476 AD. The eastern, of Byzantine Empire, limped on until 1453, but it was not much of an empire after ... Islam was born.

Mohammed converted some people by preaching, but that failed to satisfy him. In ? he began following the path of Constantine: conversion or death. The first significant fight was the Battle of Badr in 624 AD. It took a while before he and his warriors were numerous enough and proficient enough to conquer Mecca in 630. By the time Mohammed died in 632, almost all of Arabia had been conquered. Having become a religion of warfare, the armies just kept conquering and converting. In 635 the conquest of the Byzantine Empire began with the Battle of Yarmuk. In 636 the Emperor Heraclius sent an army of perhaps as many as 40,000 to stop and push back the Islamic invaders. They met east of the Sea of Galilee. The Christians were confident that Jesus would bring them victory over the infidels. The followers of Mohammed fought them for 6 days, triumphed, and then went on to take Damascus.

If god (or the gods) is on the side of those who win battles, then clearly Allah is on the side of Islam, and Jesus is indeed a poser. The tide of Islam swept across Africa and all the way into Spain. The Roman Catholics finally stopped the Islamic advance at the battle of Tours in 732 AD. Of course later, a violent, armed Christianity took back Spain and Portugal and, starting in 1492, used the sword to convert Mexico and South America to Roman Catholicism. Islam, stopped on one front, continued expanding to the East, eventually becoming the dominant faith in Indonesia.

I think the human race is better off when it governs itself without violence, but history indicates that if you don't want to be bossed around by people who don't agree with you, preparing to defend yourself and your community is wise. It is always both complicated and simple. Christianity spread slowly at first, becoming a large and powerful religion only after it embraced violence. The same might have happened to Islam had Mohammed decided to use only peaceful means. I think theology is false (though to the extent religions have sane moral codes, I agree with them). I prefer philosophy, and my version, Natural Liberation Philosophy. I would never use violence to promote it.

Most followers of Islam today are peaceful, but groups like ISIS and Al Qaeda give the religion a bad name. The Roman Catholic Church has been pretty pacifistic since its champions Hitler, Mussolini, and General Franco were defeated. But both religions have deep flaws. I hope modern people continue to abandon them.

Constantine was able to establish Christianity because most Romans had no deep belief in their own gods or myths. Islam proved the sword is actually mightier than the pen. I see Islam as an improvement upon Christianity, given the primitive societies of the era, but not as a good standard for our modern world.

Both Constantine and Mohammed stand out as great men of history. We might wonder what would have happened if they had lived at the same time and met each other in battle. We can wonder what would have happened if the Western Roman Empire had held together so that all Europeans would now speak the same language. Or if the industrial revolution had not happened, or if the Church had been successful in suppressing the development of science.

With evil men like Trump, Putin, and bin Salman around, and plenty more jockeying for power around the world; with the earth dying from fossil fuel use and overpopulation; with the oppression of honest working people almost everywhere: we need to learn the lessons of history and fix things as fast as possible. I am not saying it is an easy task. It needs vast international cooperation between diverse peoples. It requires the formation of a sane Government of Earth that truly provides liberty, equality, peace, and livelihood for all.