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Description
This concept of this world is essentially the Medieval Church (particularly the Catholic Church) always rolls snake-eyes during the 7th and 8th centuries.

Worse internal divisions start under Pope Martin I (r. 649-655), who in OTL was rather unsuccessful in taking back Papal independence from the Byzantines but nevertheless got the ball-rolling on that front. In this ATL, a longer reigned Pope Martin is able to kick the Byzantines out of Italy with a military campaign, and proceeds to rub salt in the wound by excommunicating the Emperor. When the Second Arab Expedition to Italy happens in 669, Umayyad generals find Italy in disarray, and establish enough of a toe-hold in the South to hang on and stay permanently. Meanwhile, in the Byzantine Empire, a Pagan revivalist movement grows[1]. In the next two hundred years, the Iberian, Italian, Balkan, and Anatolian peninsulas are all overrun by the Umayyads; while Islam remains cemented in most of these lands, repression of the Neo-Pagan movement in the Balkans backfires (as repressions of religious movements are want to do) ensuring that Neo-Pagans are, following independence 800 years later, pluralities in two countries. At the same time, and owing to a very different Byzantine history, the Slavs are first converted not by Saint Cyril and co but by Jewish Rabbis[2], while in Northern Europe, Nordic Paganism remains dominant[3]. By around the year 1000 A.D., a shrunken Christendom has thrown off the Pope (and indeed, a fair bit of Christian theology)[4].

[1] Although the 'Hermetics' claim to part of an unbroken line of spiritual teaching back to Socrates and before, they actually have very little to do with Classical Paganism (not least the fact that they worship Hermes rather than all of the Olympians and seem almost monotheistic, perhaps more accurately 'henotheistic'). Over a millennia of influence by Christians, Muslims, and Jews has considerably worn off; the Hermetics treat Wednesday as their holy day of the week, and have there own divinely-inspired 'Holy Book.' Interpretations of 'Hermes the Alchemist' abound, but the most literal one is that just as Zeus overthrew Chronos, so too has Hermes overthrown Zeus. The Hermeticists are fairly laid-back about other religions however, regarding the Abrahamic One God as a manifestation of trickster Hermes playing around with humanity. Although never a majority of the population in any country, Hermetics have influenced other religions residing in the Balkans and Anatolia. They've survived in part because they functioned as a buffer zone between Islamic Jihads into Europe and Jewish efforts to recreate the Kingdom of Israel.

[2] Fortunately, Vodka is kosher. Like the Khazars of OTL, the Slavs converted to Judaism, but unlike them, in an era of collapsing Christendom (and Jewish migrations east) it managed to stick. Subsequent centuries, in which Judaism dominated the political and religious life of one region of the world, rather changed the development of cultural tendencies within the religion.

[3] Fairly early on the Middle Ages, followers of the Nordic faith let go of the more icky bits like blood sacrifices of others (ritual self-sacrifice being okay), but other than that they've absorbed much less influence from the Abrahamic faiths. After a religious reformation of sorts in the 1800s, the modern-day form of the religion is stripped of most of its polytheistic mythology and is much more of a doctrine-less appreciation for nature and the natural world than anything organized. Fasting, physical athleticism, and nature-gazing do remain as hazy ideals held by adherents. Nowadays Thor is most likely to be seen as a stick-figure graffiti on train stations in Scandinavia than in anything resembling a cathedral.

[4] Imagine a cross between Cathars and the Knights Templar. What remained of Christendom initially felt a conflict between inward-looking tendencies and a chivalric ethos encouraging the re-Christianization of the Roman World. Doctrinally, the Pope was removed (and the many monastic orders across Western Europe made more 'democratic'). 'Neo-Christians' (they don't call themselves that of course) began embracing Gnostic interpretations of the faith, such as the non-literal divinity of Jesus. Their doctrine now holds that there are two Gods eternally at war: a worldly, material, and evil God of the Old Testament and a spiritual, formless, good God of whom Jesus spoke. Neo-Christian cut down the bible considerably, keeping the Old Testament around as a testament to the 'crimes' of Satan the Worldly God, and limited themselves to worshipping the teachings of the New Testament. Identifying Jews and Muslims as worshippers of the material god, the Neo-Christian states were busy launching crusades into Spain/Italy/Central Europe as late as the 1400s (too weak to send an army all the way to Palestine though), although the Pacifist undercurrents in this religion were quick to claim Jesus' teachings as peaceful. Ironically, the only military successes that the Neo-Christians have to speak of came in the reclamation of the British isles for the faith.

By the year 2000 A.D., most of these wars of religion have fizzled out- new ideas like nationalism and *socialism/capitalism, alongside the industrial and computational revolutions having taken center stage. Nonetheless, Europe as a whole remains generally religious, though whether one's religion is about personal understanding or a collective appreciation of identity varies. Major wars, centered on non-religious lines, and the earlier growth of secular political rule (a necessity in a more religiously diverse Europe) have moved the focus away from political faith. In the wider world, technological and military confrontation was often as damaging as in OTL, but here there was nothing like the singular advance of European Christianity in our world (the Nordics even made little to no effort to convert natives in their colonies). As a result, traditional and indigenous religions are more common worldwide, although globally Islam has somewhat picked up the slack as it constitutes nearly 30% of the world's population. As in our world, Europe has been falling somewhat behind recently (having not really gotten over the sudden end of colonial imperialism), though here the two largest economies here are China and Japan (there is no U.S. equivalent dominating North America here).

Description
This concept of this world is essentially the Medieval Church (particularly the Catholic Church) always rolls snake-eyes during the 7th and 8th centuries.

Worse internal divisions start under Pope Martin I (r. 649-655), who in OTL was rather unsuccessful in taking back Papal independence from the Byzantines but nevertheless got the ball-rolling on that front. In this ATL, a longer reigned Pope Martin is able to kick the Byzantines out of Italy with a military campaign, and proceeds to rub salt in the wound by excommunicating the Emperor. When the Second Arab Expedition to Italy happens in 669, Umayyad generals find Italy in disarray, and establish enough of a toe-hold in the South to hang on and stay permanently. Meanwhile, in the Byzantine Empire, a Pagan revivalist movement grows[1]. In the next two hundred years, the Iberian, Italian, Balkan, and Anatolian peninsulas are all overrun by the Umayyads; while Islam remains cemented in most of these lands, repression of the Neo-Pagan movement in the Balkans backfires (as repressions of religious movements are want to do) ensuring that Neo-Pagans are, following independence 800 years later, pluralities in two countries. At the same time, and owing to a very different Byzantine history, the Slavs are first converted not by Saint Cyril and co but by Jewish Rabbis[2], while in Northern Europe, Nordic Paganism remains dominant[3]. By around the year 1000 A.D., a shrunken Christendom has thrown off the Pope (and indeed, a fair bit of Christian theology)[4].

[1] Although the 'Hermetics' claim to part of an unbroken line of spiritual teaching back to Socrates and before, they actually have very little to do with Classical Paganism (not least the fact that they worship Hermes rather than all of the Olympians and seem almost monotheistic, perhaps more accurately 'henotheistic'). Over a millennia of influence by Christians, Muslims, and Jews has considerably worn off; the Hermetics treat Wednesday as their holy day of the week, and have there own divinely-inspired 'Holy Book.' Interpretations of 'Hermes the Alchemist' abound, but the most literal one is that just as Zeus overthrew Chronos, so too has Hermes overthrown Zeus. The Hermeticists are fairly laid-back about other religions however, regarding the Abrahamic One God as a manifestation of trickster Hermes playing around with humanity. Although never a majority of the population in any country, Hermetics have influenced other religions residing in the Balkans and Anatolia. They've survived in part because they functioned as a buffer zone between Islamic Jihads into Europe and Jewish efforts to recreate the Kingdom of Israel.

[2] Fortunately, Vodka is kosher. Like the Khazars of OTL, the Slavs converted to Judaism, but unlike them, in an era of collapsing Christendom (and Jewish migrations east) it managed to stick. Subsequent centuries, in which Judaism dominated the political and religious life of one region of the world, rather changed the development of cultural tendencies within the religion.

[3] Fairly early on the Middle Ages, followers of the Nordic faith let go of the more icky bits like blood sacrifices of others (ritual self-sacrifice being okay), but other than that they've absorbed much less influence from the Abrahamic faiths. After a religious reformation of sorts in the 1800s, the modern-day form of the religion is stripped of most of its polytheistic mythology and is much more of a doctrine-less appreciation for nature and the natural world than anything organized. Fasting, physical athleticism, and nature-gazing do remain as hazy ideals held by adherents. Nowadays Thor is most likely to be seen as a stick-figure graffiti on train stations in Scandinavia than in anything resembling a cathedral.

[4] Imagine a cross between Cathars and the Knights Templar. What remained of Christendom initially felt a conflict between inward-looking tendencies and a chivalric ethos encouraging the re-Christianization of the Roman World. Doctrinally, the Pope was removed (and the many monastic orders across Western Europe made more 'democratic'). 'Neo-Christians' (they don't call themselves that of course) began embracing Gnostic interpretations of the faith, such as the non-literal divinity of Jesus. Their doctrine now holds that there are two Gods eternally at war: a worldly, material, and evil God of the Old Testament and a spiritual, formless, good God of whom Jesus spoke. Neo-Christian cut down the bible considerably, keeping the Old Testament around as a testament to the 'crimes' of Satan the Worldly God, and limited themselves to worshipping the teachings of the New Testament. Identifying Jews and Muslims as worshippers of the material god, the Neo-Christian states were busy launching crusades into Spain/Italy/Central Europe as late as the 1400s (too weak to send an army all the way to Palestine though), although the Pacifist undercurrents in this religion were quick to claim Jesus' teachings as peaceful. Ironically, the only military successes that the Neo-Christians have to speak of came in the reclamation of the British isles for the faith.

By the year 2000 A.D., most of these wars of religion have fizzled out- new ideas like nationalism and *socialism/capitalism, alongside the industrial and computational revolutions having taken center stage. Nonetheless, Europe as a whole remains generally religious, though whether one's religion is about personal understanding or a collective appreciation of identity varies. Major wars, centered on non-religious lines, and the earlier growth of secular political rule (a necessity in a more religiously diverse Europe) have moved the focus away from political faith. In the wider world, technological and military confrontation was often as damaging as in OTL, but here there was nothing like the singular advance of European Christianity in our world (the Nordics even made little to no effort to convert natives in their colonies). As a result, traditional and indigenous religions are more common worldwide, although globally Islam has somewhat picked up the slack as it constitutes nearly 30% of the world's population. As in our world, Europe has been falling somewhat behind recently (having not really gotten over the sudden end of colonial imperialism), though here the two largest economies here are China and Japan (there is no U.S. equivalent dominating North America here).