More rhetoric

Gods who are spiritual, creative, loyal to their worshippers, intent on punishing wickedness and rewarding goodness, insistent upon the establishment of justice and equity and upon the prevention of the victimization of the weak—these gods stand too close to YHWH to allow the unqualified choice for him and against them which the covenantal monotheism of ancient Israel requires. In contrast, a piece of inert matter shaped by human hands into a cult object poses no threat; it is only ridiculous. A prime objective of interreligious polemics is to make the competitor look exactly so—ridiculous.—Jon D. Levenson in Divine Doppelgängers: YHWH’s Ancient Look-Alikes, 172