My opinion on this subject, respectfully, is working in the opposite direction. Constantine chose the avante garde religion. This was such a break with the established religion at the time that it does not seem a safe and calculated political risk, leaving another possible bold and brash reason perhaps more likely: sincerity. (Not that there are only two possiblities. Maybe he lost a bet.)

It was only after Constantine that Christianity became the status quo, and the safe choice for cynical politicians. Could he have been such a genius visionary that he knew he could turn off millennia of paganism like turning off a tap, as we now see it in our superficial modern misconception of the spontaneous metamorphosis from ancient Rome to medieval Europe?

Alexander, Scipio Africanus, Joan of Arc etc. seem to embrace the established religion of their times. Mohammed and Jesus, of course, were ultra avant garde, but they were not politicians.

It was not considered a calculated political opportunity for Kennedy to be a Catholic in order to become U.S. President. Otherwise he would have worn a cross, as Constantine did during the time when it perhaps was more of a novel concept in the 4th century to be Christian than for a U.S. president to be Catholic. I tend to think it more likely that for Constantine publicly to “go Christian” was more of a political liability than if Obama had decided to “go Muslim.”

Clinton Burks