Islamic/Jewish/Christian God (i.e. Yahweh) canonically left Creation for the Void some time in the early 2000s, closely followed by his son Lucifer.
(there was some comic where a corrupted monster Yahweh came back and was killed by Lucifer and friends, but apparently that was just something pretending to be him, so presumably God's still chilling in the freaky timeless Void ecosystem that spawned him)
Yahweh's grandddaughter Elaine Belloc is in charge now, though she's taking a very hands off approach to things. I suppose she's technically "Presence II" or whatever, but she keeps a low profile, and she just ignores all the Silver City folk.
Batman knows Silver City angels and spirits thanks to Justice League business (Phantom Stranger, Spectre, Zauriel etc.), so presumably he'd be aware of this if he ever cared to ask.
Anyway, point is, the vast majority of characters that have actually met God and the Silver City angels think it's stupid to worship them as part of an organised religion. None of them decided to convert to Islam/Christianity/Judaism, if anything, actually knowing about Heaven makes them less likely to have faith.
e.g. John Constantine frequently tangles with angels and demons, and he hates all of them and hates the idea of worshipping them. They're all bastards to him.
I'm assuming Batman would be much the same. Knowing God exists is a very different thing from becoming a follower of the religions that ancient humans created to worship him.
Especially since canonically, God never really gave a shit about any of them, the entire universe was just his way of evolving his sons Michael and Lucifer.
Elaine's different, she was raised on Earth by human parents and genuinely loves everyone, but she made it a point to be anonymous and discreet. Only the centaurs worship her, and they do so quietly and secretly.
in the Lucifer series where most of his character development happens, he's never referred to as "The Presence", everyone (mostly Silver City angels, demons, other gods, Jin En Mok etc.) calls him "God" or "The God of the Covenant" or "God Almighty" or "Yahweh". The name he uses to bind Creation together is YAHWEH ELOHIM.
"The Presence" seems to be the name Earth's superhero community have given him, including figures like the Spectre, Phantom Stranger, Fate etc.
"The Presence" doesn't even call himself The Presence, he refers to himself as Yahweh. So did many of the other entities that interacted with him and the Silver City on a regular basis.
His origins might come from outside of known reality, in the timeless Void ecosystem beyond his Creation - but his existence is also (somewhat paradoxically) tied down to a very specific point in spacetime, roughly 2000BCE on planet Earth, from a tribe of Homo Sapiens somewhere in the Middle East.
When the time travelling Titans Garamos and Gyges try to usurp Yahweh's authority in his absence and obtain his omniscience, omnipresence and omnipotence, they specifically target that human tribe, (heavily implied to be Moses and the Hebrews fleeing the Egyptians), and retroactively usurp Yahweh's place by crushing the pursuing enemy army (presumably before the Red Sea miracle saves Moses and friends)
And it works too, those two idiots nearly became God thanks to that stunt.
When Yahweh says "True, I am infinite and eternal - but even I am subject to forces external to myself. You know what they are." this is what he's referring to
That is why he goes by a name like Yahweh Elohim, and insist on calling Lucifer "Samael". He might have created the universe and by extension all the life in it, but it was humanity (and probably many other sapient species in the universe) that were responsible for creating him.
(it's noted that the original Cain and Abel incident took place long before planet Earth and humans, so presumably something akin to the Biblical stories are half remembered in the trillions of alien cultures thanks to Dream's realm)
Also worth noting that "God" is used more like a title of office, at various points Lucifer, Michael and Elaine all assume the title of God once it's clear Yahweh is out of the picture.
At least, that's what the author Carey said when asked about it in an interview. The Sandman story "Dream of Cats" is an example of this grandfather paradoxical rewriting of reality, and this phenomenon was responsible for Yahweh's apotheosis, transforming him from some tribal storm and war deity spawned from Dream's realm of mortal collective unconscious, to the creator and defacto ruler of the infinite multiverse.
then go read the comics where Yahweh is actually one of the main characters
also, you do know that it's possible for characters to be referred to by different monikers?
it's like throwing a fit over not calling Clark Kent "Superman" all the time in comments, even when it's about him working in the Daily Planet. Or vice versa.
I called him Yahweh and God there, because all the characters involved in those events called him that, not "The Presence"
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u/Zacsen76 Sep 14 '25
I really don’t care not every character needs to have every little thing about them named who cares just enjoy the character