To be clear, there is no judgment or moral condemnation to be passed on the choices of our ancestors. Without their survival discretion, neither the writer nor reader of this article would be here. There can only be gratitude.
by Brendon Henderson
In churches from Central America to South Korea, from Bosnia to Botswana, people gather in the name of the god of the Bible. This god, commonly called Yahweh in scholarly texts, began as a local, patron deity in a larger Western Asian pantheon. Yet in today’s world he has become so dominant that if you say “God,” it is assumed you mean him.
According to Abrahamic and Yahwistic texts, the most generous boundaries of Yahweh’s jurisdiction are Israel and, even more specifically, the descendants of Jacob. Yet in 2026, over half of the world identifies with one of the three Abrahamic religions.1 Many of these people have no ancestral, geographic, or cultural connection to Abraham, Jacob, or Moses, yet they are convinced that this god is the only one, or at least the one to be universally venerated above all others.
