They were?

In the Western tradition, that just ain't so. The God of the Old Testament / Hebrew Bible was a nasty piece of work. The God of the New Testament is a fuzzy lovey-dovey hippy. The Greek and Roman gods were vengeful sex-crazed maniacs who turned people into trees, while the goddesses only resorted to having whole cities razed out of spite.

I don't pretend to know heads from tails in the Hindu pantheon, but Shiva is the god of destruction, among a myriad other thinks. Kali was a blood-thirsty drunk who ate dead people, then evolved into eating reality itself. She spends her time hangin' ten with Shiva, when they aren't trying to dance reality to bits.

Buddhism doesn't have gods per se, but Gautama Buddha was a pretty mellow guy.