When I was a graduate student, I was employed at the college to read student papers primarily those written by ESL students. Each student would be assigned to write a paper about a different -ism and then to give a short oral presentation with a visual aid. These were fascinating papers to read.
When I was studying archeology, we learned that all ancient civilizations worshiped some kind of a deity or deities. Often the largest structure built was that of a temple. People would be forced or would freely offer their time, treasure, and talent to construct the best temple they could in honor of their deities. Since these temples were built with the best materials and craftsmanship of the time, these temples or remnants of these grand temples were often able to withstand floods, fires, and earthquakes, whereas in the debris, there was little record of their humble dwellings or existence except chards of pottery, jewelry, metalwork, household deities, etc.
Mankind continued to worship their "God" or these deities until the Middle Ages. Certainly, during human history, there were those deviant creatures who demanded worship due the Creator. However, during the time of the Renaissance, different -ISMs emerged, with protestantism, freemasonry, and atheism being among the worst.
What major changes in philosophy caused the rise of protestantism, humanism, gnosticism, agnosticism, atheism, socialism, communism, satanism, and ecumenism?
