A god who loves pain, and makes himself feared,
a god who catches man by surprise in a sin of weakness,
a god who condemns material things,
    and plays at condemning people,
a god who flashes a red light against human joys,
a god who demands that if a man is to believe,      he must give up being a man,
a god who does not allow people to talk familiarly to him,
a god who sterilizes a person’s reason,
a god who reveals himself only to the mature,
     the wealthy, or wise

An ascetic, abstract god conceived by professional theologians,
a god of those people who have stock answers for everything,
a god in whom there are no mysteries,
     who is not greater than we are,
a god who says and feels nothing about
     the ongoing problems of humanity,
a god who does not have a different personal word
     for each person,
a god who could not have become human,
     with all that that implies,
a god who does not captivate men’s hearts

I do not believe in such a god: my god is the other God.
Credit: Juan Arias, John Powell. Personal customisations added.