n CBN New's The Brody File, a post from yesterday is titled "Exclusive: Democrats Drop 'God' From Party Platform."  That's true, but the text reveals a serious error.  The first sentence in the text says,

"Guess what? God's name has been removed from the Democratic National Committee platform."

That's not true.  God's Name isn't God, and God's Name has never appeared in the platforms of either the Democratic Party or the Republican Party.  The Hebrew word that's translated as "God" is Elohim.  It's a title that means "strong one".  Elohim is a plural word that can be used appropriately to describe any deity.  For example, the Hebrew text of the Bible refers to the Creator as Elohim, and English translations of the Bible render it as "God" with a capital "G."  The Hebrew text of the Bible refers to pagan deities as elohim as well.  Some of them are nothing more than work, rock, or metal fashioned in "gods", and English translations of the Bible use the word "god" with a lowercase "g" to distinguish between them and the Creator.

God's Name is Yahweh.  Typical English translations of the Bible substitute the phrases "the LORD" and "the lord GOD" with all the letters in "LORD" and "GOD" capitalized where Yahweh's Name appears in the Hebrew text of the Bible, but again, His Name isn't LORD or GOD or God.  It's Yahweh.

I'm not trying to minimize the significance of the Democratic Party's attempt to remove God's Name from their platform, and I'm not nitpicking.  I'm merely pointing out a fact with which many people are unfamiliar.  Democratic Party leaders' ignorance prevented them from making a tragic mistake even though they had malicious intent because God's Name wasn't in their platform in the first place.  Serious people can't afford to be as ignorant as they are especially about something as important as God's Name.

Neil Snyder is a chaired professor emeritus at the University of Virginia.  He is the author of His Name is Yahweh, and His blog, SnyderTalk.com, is posted daily.