No Fear-Based Faith

A poem that weaves disbelief with that challenge of quiet firm and disbelief

No Fear-Based Faith

Why am I wrong
for not believing
in a vengeful, cold God—
one who tallies sins like debts
and calls suffering a lesson?

I was told love came
with conditions,
that fear was devotion,
that obedience mattered more
than mercy.

But I watched pain arrive
unchosen.
I watched good people break
while prayers stayed unanswered,
and cruelty go untouched
by consequence.

If God is love,
why does He sound so angry
through human mouths?
Why does heaven feel locked
behind shame?

I don’t reject faith—
I reject the version of God
that demands terror
and calls it grace.

I don’t need fire beneath my feet
to choose kindness.
I don’t need threats of hell
to know right from wrong.

If believing means shrinking,
silencing doubt,
or accepting a God
who feels colder than the world itself—
then no,
I cannot kneel.

And if I am wrong,
let it be for choosing compassion
over fear,
human hands over invisible judgment,
and love that doesn’t punish
for being human.