If I were a goddess, I would not demand worship. I would not threaten those who refused to kneel. I would not build a prison of fire and condemn finite human lives to infinite agony for the crime of disbelief. Because any deity who uses terror to secure devotion does not inspire faith, she manufactures obedience.
My words to humanity would be unmistakable. They would be coherent, precise, and clear enough that no one could twist them into permission for conquest, persecution, slavery, or murder. I would not scatter contradictions across centuries and then watch mortals slaughter one another over which interpretation pleased me most.
I would favor no race and no nation. I would never declare one people sacred and another disposable, nor would I call anyone inferior because of their skin, their birthplace, their body, or the language spoken by their ancestors.
If I were a goddess, the woman would be given the honor she deserves as bringer of life and vessel of wisdom. And I would not demean the man by declaring him a lesser being because he came from a woman’s womb. If I issued commandments, they would begin with this: women and men must love and respect one another. The feminine and the masculine are never to be enemies. Both carry dignity, power, and goodness. Both are unique and intricate. Both are complete as well as complementary, meaning that both are fully whole as individuals, yet they can still harmonize perfectly when brought together.
And if human souls are capable of such complexity, why should anyone limit the ways love can express itself? Thus, I would not forbid people from loving whom they love. Why concern myself with consenting adults finding tenderness in a world already overflowing with cruelty? Love would not be treated as a sin while hatred marched through the streets wearing holy symbols.
My followers would be commanded to live in harmony with others, not to convert them, intimidate them, or wear them down until surrender looked like belief. Faith is personal. The moment it is imposed, it ceases to be faith and becomes domination. So no one would be allowed to persecute, torture, oppress, or kill in my name. And if someone would make a mistake, the punishment would be just and proportionate to the deed. I would not punish generations of descendants for the mistake of one.
Moreover, I would not send my followers to work for me. I would be a present goddess, not an absent one. I would approach humanity myself and reveal my nature plainly. I would make my presence undeniable, then allow every person to choose me freely or walk away without punishment, resentment, or revenge. For even if I created every soul, I would not pretend that creation gave me the right to abuse it. I would not harden hearts, override minds, or reduce people to puppets so that my will could masquerade as their choice.
I would not demand sacrifice. I would never order a parent to raise a blade against their own child merely to prove their love, faith, or loyalty. I would not turn cruelty into a test of devotion and call blind obedience a virtue.
I would not destroy cities because their inhabitants lived differently from the way I preferred. An almighty being who answers disobedience with annihilation is not displaying justice, she is throwing a divine tantrum.
Last, but not least, I would never sacrifice my own child to save humanity. I would not send my child into the world to be humiliated, tortured, and executed, then demand that humanity worship me in gratitude for a horror I designed, permitted, and possessed the power to prevent. If I were truly almighty, I would find another fucking way.
But all of the above is the beautiful version, the merciful fantasy. Because religion has already done its work on me. It has broken things that cannot be restored. It has ingrained fear so deep and in such great amounts that it eventually turned into resentment, anger, and hatred. It has taken the name of a god and used it like a weapon, then reverently called the wounds salvation.
So, if by some miracle, I were given divine power now, I cannot promise mercy. My wrath would not be holy. It would not be righteous. It would certainly not pretend to be love. It would simply arrive. And the world would receive exactly the apocalypse it deserves. No less. No more.
Amen.
