This is why I think Zionism in its current form is so dangerous

[Philippus Flavius Homovallumus]

Yahweh as a god existed before the Persian and Babylonic times, but at this point he wasn't a monotheïstic god. On the contrary he even is evidenced to have a wife (can't remember the name at the moment) at this time. The religion kept very much changing afterwards still and it isn't untill the late ancient age/early medieval age we get a somewhat consistent religion that is comparable with the current one.

I have a great article on that laying around at college, but I'm at home now so can't look up. But I can some time this week, if you want some more information on the development of Jewish religion and identity. Though that may be off-topic.

Edit: Yahwah's wife apparantly was called Asherah (thank you google).

Yes, Yahweh is recorded as having a wife, or perhaps it it is the wife of El, as Yahweh and El were originally distinct entities (Yahweh was the intercessor between Men and El in one version).

I confess to not being especially interested - I don't buy into the "Polytheistic into Monotheistic after Babylon" argument, largely because the current version of the theory states that the Jews abandoned all their Gods but El/Yahweh, which makes little logical sense.

If your Gods have failed you, why keep their King? No, you get rid of all of them and you adopt better Gods, usually the ones that beat your God.

No, I think there was always a strand of monotheism in Judaic theology, albeit a minority one, and it came of age after the Jewish state was virtually destroyed by the Babylonians

Hindu theology is fluid, changing over the eons. And you also get the usual divergent beliefs between god cults. When someone posted some audio of Buddhist lectures a while ago the lecturer described Indian religion as Orthopraxy rather than Orthodoxy. That is ritual is far more important than theological belief.

Which is a way of saying it's not really the same religion it was 500 years ago, let alone 3,000.

"Orthopraxy" is an interesting term though, that sounds like pre-Reformation Catholicism.