If it weren't for a small group of Romans the Church would not have its greatest theological document, Paul's letter to the Romans.

The persecution started the entire basis for the religion. It may not have spread as far without it.

Monty Python's Life of Brian:

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Reg: Romans have bled us white, the bastards! They've taken everything we ever had! And not just from us, but from our fathers, and from our father's fathers!

Stan: And from our father's father's fathers.

Reg: And what have they ever given us in return?!

Revolutionary #1: ...The aquaduct?

Reg: What?

Revolutionary #1: The aquaduct.

Reg: Oh. Yeah, yeah they did give us that. That's true, yeah.

Revolutionary #2: And, uh, sanitation.

Stan: Oh yeah, the sanitation, Reg. Remember what the city USED to be like.

Reg: Alright, I'll grant you the aquaduct and the sanitation. The two things the Romans HAVE done.

Matthias: And the roads!

Reg: Yeah, well obviously the roads! I mean, the roads go without saying, don't they? But APART from sanitation, the aquaducts and the roads...

Revolutionary #3: Irrigation?

Revolutionary #1: Medicine.

Revolutionary #5: Education?

Reg: Yeah, alright, fair enough...

Revolutionary #5: And the wine!

Francis: Yeah! Yeah, that's something we'd really miss, Reg, if the Romans left.

Revolutionary #6: Public baths.

Stan: And it's safe to walk in the streets at night now, Reg.

Francis: Yeah, they certainly know how to keep order. Let's face it -- they're the only ones who COULD in a place like this.

Reg: Alright, but APART from the sanitation, the medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, the fresh water system and public health... what have the Romans ever done for us?

Revolutionary #1: ...Brought peace?