We can't exactly pinpoint when and where it began. As Thomas Mann says, "Deep is the well of the past, should we not call it bottomless." But we can uncover a good idea of when and where it began. Since this country is primarily Christian, we can safely say it begins with Abrahamic traditions.
We know that the Hebrews were originally polytheistic. In fact, the only thing that made the sons of Abraham unique was that they had a "God on Most High" (El Elyon). In most polytheistic religions there was always some deity that was better than another, and not in a terminal sense, which ended up a hierarchy circle. Zeus may have been the chief deity, but he was terrified of Night. Night, consequently, was subservient to Themis (mother of Zeus) and Gaia. Zeus was thought to have procreated with Themis. Circles of dominance exists in polytheistic cultures. But not the Jews.
When we think about the phrase God on Most High, it clearly implies that there is a hierarchy of other deities, of which YHWH would have been the highest of them all. We still use this phrase commonly, which makes me question the common person's understanding of the words that come out of his or her mouth. But why a God on Most High? Something must have made the Jews suddenly think something higher existed above all else, in which nothing higher existed. Thomas Mann gives probably one of the best parables for why this would have happened.
According to Mann, Abraham, in his journeys searching for the god most suitable for him, would have recognized the hierarchy of terrestrial institutions that are worshiped. Abraham would have done as most did, worship the earth, because our life comes from the milk and substance of the earth. But the earth is one of the lowest institutions of life. Annually it dies and is reborn. It is dependent on the warmth of the sun and the rains of the skies. So he couldn't worship the earth. So he looked to the heavens. But the sun sets and is replaced by the lights of the night, so the sun is not worthy of his worship. The moon dies and is reborn every month, and clearly not worthy. Nor the stars, because they shift throughout the year. The stars that reign in the winter are replaced by others in the summer. So Abraham concluded that there must be something above all of these that was The Highest. And so, without being about to name it, he called it God on Most High. And at that moment God popped into existence. God did not exist before Abraham (or was just waiting in Limbo for someone to realize him/her).
Why would God not "exist" before Abraham? (Let me stress that it's not so much there was no God before Abraham, but that God had no purpose before Abraham). Because God does not need to create. Some orders of Qabalah teaching believe that Lucifer created the world. Lucifer did this to show that he was comparable, if not equal or higher than God, which landed him upon his terrestrial creation. (Where Lucifer came from, I haven't the faintest idea). God is supposed to be incorruptible, perfect, and All. Being perfect would mean that nothing can be subtracted from or added to God, but for the worst (the Platonic definition of beauty). If God created the world, then he did it for some reason, need, or desire. Perhaps he was lonely. But those would imply that God is incomplete without creation, and had to create it. Or some internal or external inspiration required him to do so. Maybe he was compelled, but these human reasons only diminish the perfection that is supposed to be God's.
All this sounds demeaning and paradoxical, and quite rightly so, toward God. But let me give a solution that comes from Hermetic philosophy: God never actually created the world, nor did Lucifer. God simply thought it all up. There is no creation, just a thought, and idea of God's, that we are currently a part of. If he just thinks up the whole of creation, then he never did anything that would subtract or add to himself.
Needless to say, the God on Most High had to be realized by a human in order to exist. Only human reason can create something on Most High. Mann believes that at some point the Jews would have "confused" the God on Most High with the One and Only God. Before this Only God idea emerged, the Jews, worshiping only one deity, did recognize and accept other deities of other cultures. Somewhere along the way monotheism gave way.
Monotheism is really a simple corruption of polytheism (corruption, as in important elements are lost). The Jews may have worshiped the highest god, a single god, but most people had a patron deity of their region or town that they strictly worshiped. Members of the Cult of Dionysus only worshiped Dionysus, and didn't worship Athena, though they still recognized and respected her. They recognized her and respected her, as well as her followers, because polytheists believed in layers. There was none of this, "It is this God and no other!" The worshipers of Dionysus needed the cult of Ceres, because they mostly farmed, and Ceres would yield cereal. They needed the cult of Athena because Athena protected Athens. There were layers to the hierarchies of the gods, and all were necessary. And even though these are specific religious cults, most people worshiped all the gods. So layers of society and religious worship was believed to be necessary. I say "society" as well as religious, because all the gods are incarnations of human institutions.
Monotheism eradicates all of those layers. There is no longer a recognition of layers. There is no respect for degrees of difference. It is good or evil, and nothing in between. Enemy or friend, and nothing besides. When, in fact, every opposite, every polarity is the same thing, with degrees of difference. This is a part of Hermetic teaching, where the two poles are only difference of each other. Hot and cold are opposites, but there are degrees of hot and cold, and blurry line that arbitrarily divides them. God and Satan are the same thing, only with a number of degrees of difference between them. In the Book of Job, Satan is treated as an aspect of God, not an enemy. The only true opposites are gender, which is why Hermeticists classify gender as something completely different. Only in Freudian psychology do I think we can talk about degrees of masculinity or femininity. But that is not exactly what the Hermeticists mean when they speak of gender (which entails creations).
And so this is where we can start to understand the insanity that is the uber-conservative religious right. That doesn't explain the whole picture. But it's a start. Somewhere God on Most High became The Only God, which destroyed any concept of degrees of difference. There is no acceptance for being in-between. You are either a "good Christian" or you're going to hell! (Don't get me wrong, I live in America, and I really only see this from the Christians. Every religion pulls this kind of stuff, so it depends in what region of the globe you are on). You are either a Broncos fan, or you're going to hell! An American or anti-American. Because apparently questioning what it means to be American is anti-patriotic; because freedom of speech is not American.
Like a coin, there are two sides, opposites, but are still the same thing. And there are many layers in between the two sides. We have come to only see two sides, and nothing besides.
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