Death of God
Philosophy and ethics have been faced with several threats. One of the threats was proposed by Friedrich Nietzsche that “God is dead.” Over the years, philosophy has attempted to create an alternative for the burden posed by religion on people. Most philosophers have been seen as atheists who tried to create a parallel competition for religion. However, philosophy does not mean rebellion to rebellion but creates a way of understanding the way human ideologies are developed. Christianity has been the first victim of criticism from philosophers. Nietzsche was an atheist who used most of his time arguing on the fact that humanity had played a crucial role in killing God. Although the statement did not refer to the literal death of God, Nietzsche meant that the existence of God was losing the recognition among people and most people were diverting their attention to other powers such as technology.
The statement that “God is dead” received different reactions from philosophers. Mostly, the statement appeared as a threat to the philosophical field. Nietzsche was an atheist who had for a long time protested the idea of the world to believe in the existence of divinity (Nietzsche, 2018). However, Nietzsche must have known that publicly claiming that God did not exist would not receive the attention he needed from people. Therefore, Nietzsche decided to use the action of the people to pass his message. First, Nietzsche reminded the people of their role in ‘killing’ the existence of God. According to Nietzsche, the world was gradually turning its attention from beliefs associated with divinity to more practical ideas such as technology.
Most people would think that the death of God would be taken in good terms by atheists. However, Nietzsche was not the one to celebrate the destruction of an entire system. As a philosopher, Nietzsche understood that Christianity was a system of concepts and that the elimination of one concept would lead to the destruction of the whole system. Besides, God falls at the center of Christianity, and His death would mean that the whole system was in a crisis. The meaning of the statement “God is dead” came as a surprise to Christians who later learned that the existence of God made sense as long as people hold to the belief that divinity existed.
Ethics borrows entirely from the religion. Therefore, the destruction of religion poses a significant challenge to ethics. The world has, for a long time, been controlled by divine believes. However, Nietzsche is surprised by the current turn of events. Generally, the emergence of physical laws that govern the existence of humanity might eventually bring to an end, the belief in divinity. Besides, malignity has come to exist owing to the loss of concentration on the significance of religion. The world has practically devised ways of surviving without depending on divinity. Eventually, ethics has been compromised, and humanity has lost meaning among people. Generally, the statement by Nietzsche is a reflection of the risks that the world might face due to the death of God.
“Death of God” gives a similar message to the one presented by Jesus in “sermon on the mount.” According to the sermon on the mount, the existence of God does not impose itself on humanity (Mattison, 2017). Generally, human beings have a role to play before enjoying the blessings of God. The general blessings of God come at a price that is aimed at keeping order on the world. Therefore, God may leave His people when they fail to recognize his presence. The possibility of God leaving his people is compared to as the “Death of God.” Therefore, Nietzsche’s claim goes hand in hand with the sermon given by Jesus and does not represent his position as an atheist.
The statement by Nietzsche came to insist on the reality that came after the enlightenment period. The universe had lost the sense of divinity and was embracing a system of physical laws for control. Besides, philosophy explained the idea of government using physical policies instead of being formed around divine control. The change in adherence to divinity meant that the universe no longer trusted in God for morality and order. However, the risk of losing focus on religion has been viewed as being great, and Nietzsche reminds his audience that they are responsible for the death of God.
In sum, the statement “death of God” did not refer to the literal death of God but Nietzsche meant that the existence of God was losing the recognition among people and most people were diverting their attention to other powers such as technology. Nietzsche was an atheist who used most of his time arguing on the fact that humanity had played a crucial role in killing God. Nietzsche’s claim goes hand in hand with the sermon given by Jesus and does not represent his position as an atheist. Generally, the risk of losing focus on religion has been viewed as being great, and Nietzsche reminds his audience that they are responsible for the death of God.
References
Nietzsche, F. W. (2018). Beyond good and evil (p. 99-110). Boni & Liveright, Incorporated.
Mattison III, W. C. (2017). The Sermon on the Mount and Moral Theology: A Virtue Perspective. Cambridge University Press.