This is for my friend. Dentist waiting room in New York

4.in those days the church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society. •type of figurative language: •meaning of figurative language: •effect on tone and mood: •effect on audience: choose out of these: hyperbole, irony, historical question, paradox, allusion,metaphor,personification,symbolism and simile

Which verb from is used to indicate the perfect progressive tense

Ineed simplifying this thesis and making it easier to understand for the reader (more concise) "no matter how religious one may be, one’s faith tends to change under unexpected and challenging circumstances."