Not only is that false it's illogical. For Christianity to have actually spread into Gaul during the Pax Romana the Romans would have had to stop crucifying and killing Christians during that period. Christianity was spread to France, Spain and England at the edge of a sword . You either converted or you were chopped down.
Gaul was already in the process of Christianization, like most of the Roman Empire even prior to the end of official persecution in the early 4th century. Christianity dates back to the SECOND century in Gaul despite the persecution. Lyon and Marseilles were early Christian centers in Gaul. There was a well kown persecution of Christians in Lyon in the late second century. Please tell me how the persecution could have occurred had there not been Christians there?
Furthermore, Gaul remained Roman well into the 5th century. By this time, Christianity was not only the official religion of the empire, but large parts of the empire, including the province of Gaul, had large Christian populations. Christianity would remain the official religion of the empire until its fall in 1453 and would remain present in Gaul even after it no longer remained a Roman province in the late fifth century.
Spain as well, converted to Christianity as a part of the Roman Empire.
No. I have actually argued quite the opposite on several occasions. Religion on average has been spread through violence.
Fine, then. Clearly, for the most part, Islam was spread by the sword, and while there are unfortunate instances where Christianity as spread by force, most of the early spread of the faith, quite unlike Islam, was peaceful ... and actually, it was CHRISTIANS at the receiving end of most of the violence in the early centuries.
