If a god is in control of the laws of the universe, then we have imposed authority on the universe. As inhabitants of this universe, we are subject to those laws, absolutely.
Therefore God is an authoritarian, but in a non-arbitrary way. Jump off a cliff and you fall.
Now, if people want to assert that God also makes commands of behavior, and will punish those in some afterlife (or imminently for those in the Old Testament), now we get God as authoritarian, but in an arbitrary way. Transgressions can be forgiven through sacrifice or prayer, and the rules are whatever God decides they are at any given time.
Therefore God is an authoritarian, but in a non-arbitrary way. Jump off a cliff and you fall.
Now, if people want to assert that God also makes commands of behavior, and will punish those in some afterlife (or imminently for those in the Old Testament), now we get God as authoritarian, but in an arbitrary way. Transgressions can be forgiven through sacrifice or prayer, and the rules are whatever God decides they are at any given time.
