Toward Ecosophy

Oh, they would have been just as violent; invading peoples generally are, irrespective of their religion. The differences would have been twofold. First, the people of the circle wouldn't have tried to stamp out the traditional cultures and religions of the people they conquered. Second, they would have had a radically different attitude toward nature -- the entire ideology of "Man's Conquest of Nature" has deep Christian roots, derived from the Pauline teaching of the World and the Flesh as two of the three enemies of the Christian, right up alongside the Devil. Lacking that, some of the actions that are bringing the Fifth World to an end wouldn't have happened.