Criticism of religion developed from the 17th century onwards. For example, in Asia, no one before the 19th century self-identified as a "Hindu" or other similar identities. With the existence of diverse modern categories of religion such as monotheism, polytheism, pantheism, nontheism and diverse specific religions such as Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Taoism, Buddhism and many others, it is not always clear to whom the criticisms are aimed at or to what extent they are applicable to other religions. Some criticisms of monotheistic religions have been: Dennett and Harris have asserted that theist religions and their scriptures are not divinely inspired, but man made
New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures original texts in the Hebrew and Greek languages have become available. According to the publishers, better manuscript evidence had made it possible to determine with greater accuracy what the original writers intended, particularly in more obscure passages. They said linguists better understood certain aspects of the original Hebrew and Greek languages than previously. In October 1946, the president of the Watch Tower Society, Nathan H. Knorr, proposed a fresh translation of the New Testament, which Jehovah's Witnesses usually refer to as the "Christian Greek Scriptures". Work began on December 2, 1947 when the "New World Bible Translation Committee" was formed,