>If you should stand on your own feet, and not use magic as a
>crutch so to speak, then why does it matter if you're a god?
>Gods have power to do whatever they want without magic, and so
>their use of it is mere convenience or contrivance.

The way I always looked at it (and granted, now that I think about it I'm not 100% sure this holds up consistently with other things I assume) was that magic was how anything "supernatural" got done in Thera, including a bunch of things that mages don't, as a matter of course, do, such as healing.

Priests don't cast spells, but they wield the power of magic by proxy -- communing being their mechanism to ask their god to cast a spell for them, essentially. Because the mortal vessel isn't perfect, or perfectly in tune with the will of their god, the power comes out somewhat less strongly than it would if Shokai was personally there magicking wrath on evilguy. Theoretically, the god would have the larger worldview / wisdom to not grant any prayers for something that would unmake Thera or otherwise be especially perverse.

Mages, through spellcasting, also wield the power of magic but without the check/filter of divine oversight.