Anglicanism, the first example of a modern Christian church supporting such a position. 1940s — Wicca is formalized by Gerald Gardner and Doreen Valiente. 1950s — Sayyid Qutb articulates Qutbism, a violent variety of Islamism that would later become foundational to jihadist ideology. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi begins to teach Transcendental Meditation. 1953 — L. Ron Hubbard founds the Church of Scientology, which has a unique cosmology based on science fiction and his older system of Dianetics. 1956 — B. R. Ambedkar launches the Dalit Buddhist movement. 1960 – The charismatic movement starts within Anglicanism, quickly spreading to other Christian sects. 1962–65 – The Second Vatican Council is held, resulting in significant changes in the Catholic Church. 1970s — New Age beliefs and practices are popularized. 1979 – In Shia Islam, the Islamic Revolution establishes a theocratic state within Iran. 1988 — Al-Qaeda, a network of Islamic extremists, is founded among Arab members of the Afghan mujahideen. It engages in a number of terror attacks throughout the 1990s, leading up to the September 11 attacks in 2001. 1999 — Falun Gong, a Chinese new religious movement dating to the early 1990s, begins to be persecuted by the Chinese government. Economics The Great Depression was a worldwide economic slowdown that lasted throughout the early 1930s. The Soviet Union implemented a series of five-year plans for industrialization and economic development. Most countries abandoned the gold standard for their currency. The Bretton Woods system involved currencies being pegged to the United States dollar; after the system collapsed in 1971 most major currencies had a floating exchange rate. See also 20th-century inventions Death rates in the 20th century Infectious disease in the 20th century Modern art Short twentieth century Timelines of modern history List of 20th-century women artists List of notable 20th-century writers List of 20th-century American writers by birth year List of battles 1901–2000 List of stories set in a future now past References Sources . Climate Change 2013 Working Group 1 website. (pb: ) Further reading Brower, Daniel R. and Thomas Sanders. The World in the Twentieth Century (7th Ed, 2013) CBS News. People of the century. Simon and Schuster, 1999. Grenville, J. A. S. A History of the World in the Twentieth Century (1994). online free Hallock, Stephanie A. The World in the 20th Century: A Thematic Approach (2012) Langer, William. An Encyclopedia of World History (5th ed. 1973); highly detailed outline