Where did false religions come from?

The idea of false gods and goddesses can be traced back to the Tower of Babel.  When Nimrod built the city of Babel he decided to also build a huge tower to go along with it (Genesis 10:8-10; 11:1-9).  The reason God decided to confuse the languages of the people was due to the fact that they were growing ever more evil and worshipping false gods.  He spread them out to slow down the evil that was growing in the world just after the Flood.  Babel became Babylon, and most historians call it the birthplace of cult religion due to the fact that almost every pagan religion on earth can be traced back to it.