In Slovak humanist thought from the beginning of the 19th century until the middle of the 20th century, Christian thought—to a greater extent Lutheran than Catholic—clearly dominated. Secular thought began to take shape only at the end of the first half of the 20th century. In the second half, in the context of political and ideological changes in Czechoslovakia, mainly Marxist-Leninist philosophy and ethics came to power, representing secular humanist thought until 1989. Christian humanist thought only survived in the shadow of the dominant ideology.