[Oren]

Hmmm Aoshi, some very intriguing arguements. I tend to agree with you about Ryuk. He is the only shinigami that seemed remotely intelligent besides Rem. And she let her emotions for Misa choose her fate. But Ryuk shows some real smarts. The whole story was after all his doing, was it not?

As far as Kira being a "God", well that is just laughable. As you stated, he was only considered a god because he had an inanimate object that gave him an inhuman "power". But ultimately, he is just as human as anyone else. He bleeds doesn't he?
People fear and revere that which they cannot explain or understand. Here comes Kira with promises to clean up the world of the evil doers, and he's mysteriously killing off people with an unknown power. He must be a god, right? Please. He's just a self-righteous, egotistical psycho who is way too intelligent for his own good. And after he expended all that energy and intelligence fighting against the world, just imagine what he could've done to REALLY help it.