For example, in Africa there are many local, traditional religions that differ considerably from one another and that worship deities of many names. Yet, most of the people firmly believe in a Supreme Being who is “unique” and “the absolute controller of the universe.”

As related in Dr. Peter Becker’s book Tribe to Township, an elderly Sotho lay preacher of South Africa said: “My old father and his father . . . knew about God, the Molimo, long before the coming of the missionaries, God the Supreme Being who created all things . . . Does it matter that we [the Basuto] call God, Molimo, the Zulu, Nkulunkulu, the Xhosa, Thixo . . . ?”

Nonetheless, most Africans, while claiming to believe in a Supreme Being, worship many deities.