http://www.watchtower21.org/2011/01/evolution-of-god.html
In The Evolution of God, Robert Wright takes us on a sweeping journey through history, unveiling a discovery of crucial importance to the present moment: there is a pattern in the evolution of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, and a “hidden code” in their scriptures. Straddling popular science, ancient history, and theology, this ambitious work sets out to resolve not only the clash of civilizations between the Judeo-Christian West and the Muslim world but also the clash between science and religion. Tracking the continual transformation of faith from polytheism to monotheism, from the Stone Age to the Information Age.
http://www.evolutionofgod.net/excerpts_afterword/
In this book I’ve used the word “god” in two senses. First, there are the gods that have populated human history—rain gods, war gods, creator gods, all-purpose gods (such as the Abrahamic god), and so on. These gods exist in people’s heads and, presumably, nowhere else. "-Robert Wright
A theistic alternative to Robert Wright's Evolution of God:
The history of religion is as old as the history of man himself. That is what archaeologists and anthropologists tell us. Even among the most “primitive,” that is to say, undeveloped, civilizations, there is found evidence of worship of some form. In fact The New Encyclopædia Britannica says that “as far as scholars have discovered, there has never existed any people, anywhere, at any time, who were not in some sense religious.”
Besides its antiquity, religion also exists in great variety. The headhunters in the jungles of Borneo, the Eskimos in the frozen Arctic, the nomads in the Sahara Desert, the urban dwellers in the great metropolises of the world—every people and every nation on earth has its god or gods and its way of worship. The diversity in religion is truly staggering.
Logically, questions come to mind. From where did all these religions come? Since there are marked differences as well as similarities among them, did they start independently, or could they have developed from one source? In fact we might ask: Why did religion begin at all? And how? The answers to these questions are of vital importance to all who are interested in finding the truth about religion and religious beliefs.
Before and after the Flood of Noah’s day according to Genesis, rebellious angels of God joined Satan and left their proper dwelling place in the heavens, as well as their assigned positions there. Intervention from the demonic spirit realm stirred up the countless array of false deities that persist to this day.
Spiritism (spirit communication) has been validated by many contemporaries, among them scientists and philosophers who attended séances and studied the phenomena. Polytheism originated in an ancient spiritistic empire known as Babylon.
Babylon was a most religious place. Evidence from excavations and from ancient texts points to the existence of more than 50 temples. The principal god of the imperial city was Marduk, called Merodach in the Bible. It has been suggested that Nimrod was deified as Marduk, but the opinions of scholars as to identifications of gods with specific humans vary. Triads of deities were also prominent in the Babylonian religion. One of these, made up of two gods and a goddess, was Sin (the moon-god), Shamash (the sun-god), and Ishtar; these were said to be the rulers of the zodiac. And still another triad was composed of the devils Labartu, Labasu, and Akhkhazu. Idolatry was everywhere in evidence. Babylon was indeed “a land of graven images,” idols.—Jer 50:1, 2, 38.
The numerous names for these deities represented spirit beings, but not from the true God's inner circle or anywhere else in his domain. Technically, the deities do exist and the names and images demons assigned to themselves when they initiated religion in Babylon was to make their existence more tangible so people could worship them.
The Babylonians developed astrology in an effort to discover man’s future in the stars. Magic, sorcery, and astrology played a prominent part in their religion. (Isa 47:12, 13; Da 2:27; 4:7) Many heavenly bodies, for example, planets, were named after Babylonian gods. Divination continued to be a basic component of Babylonian religion in the days of Nebuchadnezzar, who used it to reach decisions.—Eze 21:20-22.
When the original language in Babylon was confused by Jehovah to thwart the building of the Tower of Babel, (Ge 11:1-9) Babylonians took their spiritistic practices with them and formed polytheistic religious cultures in various regions, many of which exist today.
Israel’s Age-Old Enemy
The Bible makes many references to Babylon, beginning with the Genesis account of the original city of Babel. (Ge 10:10; 11:1-9) Included in the spoil taken by Achan from Jericho was “an official garment from Shinar.” (Jos 7:21) After the fall of the northern kingdom of Israel in 740 B.C.E., people from Babylon and other areas were brought in to replace the captive Israelites. (2Ki 17:24, 30) Hezekiah made the mistake of showing messengers from Babylon the treasures of his house; these same treasures as well as some of Hezekiah’s “sons” were later taken to Babylon. (2Ki 20:12-18; 24:12; 25:6, 7) King Manasseh (716-662 B.C.E.) was also taken captive to Babylon, but because he humbled himself, God restored him to his throne. (2Ch 33:11) King Nebuchadnezzar took the precious utensils of God's house to Babylon, along with thousands of captives.—2Ki 24:1–25:30; 2Ch 36:6-20.
The Christian Greek Scriptures tell how Jeconiah (Jehoiachin), taken prisoner to Babylon, was a link in the lineage to Jesus. (Mt 1:11, 12, 17) The apostle Peter’s first canonical letter was written from Babylon.
The God of Israel and ‘the God of their forefathers was not a tribal god. (1Ch 17:24; Ex 3:16) The association with the Hebrews and with the Israelite nation gives no reason for limiting the name of YHWH to that of a tribal god, as some have done. The Christian apostle Paul wrote: “Is he the God of the Jews only? Is he not also of people of the nations? Yes, of people of the nations also.” (Ro 3:29) The God depicted in the Bible is not only “the God of the whole earth” (Isa 54:5) but also the God of the universe, “the Maker of heaven and earth.” (Ps 124:8) God’s covenant with Abraham, nearly 2,000 years earlier than that of Paul’s day, had promised blessings for people of all nations, showing God’s interest in all mankind.—Ge 12:1-3
There's much more evidence beyond the scope of this brief essay to validate the existence of the spirit realm as a reality. Feel free to contact Jehovah's Witnesses for more information.
