Hitchhiker's Guide to Religion

Timeline: When Each Theory Emerged

Evidence
Unknown
← Conspiracies
CenturyEntriesPattern
13th-14thTemplar suppression (#2), Templar treasure (#4)Real events generate immediate legends
16thJesuit conspiracy (#21), St. Malachy prophecy (#18)Reformation-era Catholic/Protestant warfare
18thIlluminati (#5), Masonic influence (#6), Great Seal (#7)Enlightenment + American/French Revolutions
19thProtocols (#23), BHI origins (#14), Skull and Bones (#20)Nationalism, racial pseudoscience, elite formation
Early 20thFederal Reserve (#25), Nation of Islam (#15), COINTELPRO (#22)Institutional power consolidation + resistance movements
Late 20thP2 exposed (#1), Satanic Panic (#19), Abuse scandals (#16), Dead Sea Scrolls delays (#17), Bloodline of Jesus (#8), NWO (#12)Post-Watergate distrust, mass media, Cold War paranoia
21stMark of Beast/tech (#13), Third Temple (#11), Nephilim/ancient aliens (#24), Nicaea myth (#10, via Dan Brown)Internet virality, digital surveillance, pop culture mainstreaming

Notice the acceleration. Theories that took centuries to develop (Templar legends) now emerge and spread globally in weeks. The internet did not create conspiracy thinking — but it compressed the timeline from generations to news cycles.