Neitzsche and God
Sex on television. Murder in the schools. Racism, greed, selfishness, and indifference permeate the luxury in which Americans surround themselves. Modern society has fallen from grace. Famous philosopher Fredrich Nietzsche saw this long ago and in the midst of an apathetic world coined the prolific phrase: "God is dead." This statement was thought blasphemous by many and its credibility was never fully realized. This essay will give examples of society's lack of faith in God and point out how this supports Nietzsche's phrase.
Douglas Adams helps shed light on Nietzsche's seemingly extreme statement. In his book The Hitchhiker's Guide from the Galaxy, he writes that God refuses to prove that he exists because "proof denies faith and without faith [God] is nothing." As God's people rely on Him, he relies on the people for faith. Modern society is relentlessly struggling to define and understand, therefore eliminating all need for faith. "God is dead" does not necessarily mean that the being no longer exists, but that society's faith in Him has died. God exists, but is powerless to assist those who have no faith. It's as if there is a thick cloud of doubt and disbelief that is generated by today's society which separates God and the people, and the cloud gets thicker each day.
Technology is a major factor for diminishing faith. As the quality of technology increases, the need for faith decreases. Meteorologists strive to predict the future in nature. The Internet makes the world smaller by developing better communication between long distances. As we conquer the physical world with knowledge, there is no need for reliance on religion. Also, as technology helps people overcome natural disasters such as hurricanes, disease, drought etc. the reliance on God is diminished. It is easier to depend on the National Guard than something that cannot be seen.
Today is a hands-on society. When anything can be duplicated on the television or computer or in virtual reality, the average person becomes skeptical. God is not something tangible and therefore is subject to suspicion. The word of religion is doubted and faith dies, and with it, God. Society also has to try everything. Limitations are looked shunned and rules are expected to be broken. Any person, religion or belief that keeps people from acting upon their impulses, whims and desires are abandoned.
Writing in the late 1980s, Herbert Schlossberg provides a thorough analysis of current trends in American culture in his book Idols for Destruction: The Conflict of Christian Faith and American Culture. Many scholars have examined Western civilization and concluded that we are in its declining years. Some use analogies of space: rise, zenith, and fall; others use analogies of biology: birth, maturity, and death. Schlossberg refuses to see all cultures as following these patterns, but rather attempts to use the concept of judgment, based on the biblical example of the prophets: “With their silver and gold they made idols for their own destruction” (Hos. 8:4). If the idols are destroyed, and we return to worship the true God, we can expect God’s blessing. However, if we continue down the road of idolatry, our culture will certainly be judged just as many cultures that went before us.
The greatest recent event -- that "God is dead," that the belief in the Christian God has ceased to be believable -- is... cast[ing] its shadows over Europe. For the few, at lease, whose eyes....are strong and sensitive enough for this spectacle... What must collapse now that this belief has been undermined... [is] our whole European morality.
In Stephen Prothero’s, Religious Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know and Doesn’t (New York: HarperCollins Publishers Inc., 2007), 297 we discover the average American’s lack of religious knowledge. Prothero discusses religious illiteracy in three ways. How it exists, came to be, and just how to possibly solve this problem. Today religious illiteracy is at least as pervasive as cultural illiteracy, and certainly more dangerous. Religious illiteracy is more dangerous because religion is the most volatile constituent of culture, because religion has been, in addition to one of the greatest forces for good in world history, one of the greatest forces for evil. Religion has always been a major factor in US politics and international affairs.
When Nietzsche claims that God is dead he is not making an empirical claim about God’s existence, nor even merely about the state of belief in his existence. His claim is that the conceptual relationship between God and the ‘Truth’ fundamentally changed with the Enlightenment. Previously ‘Truth’ was understood via its relationship with God; Nietzsche argues that:
... has been deeply rooted in Christianity and influenced by Christianity. This is primarily reflected in our laws that attempt to create all equal, although we know this is not the reality, yet it is before us; but, the part of the book that haunts me: The gods were no longer needed. Have we come to a time when “God is no longer needed;” or, as many put it “God is dead.” This did related to another book I read this year: After God by Mark C. Taylor. There is a trend in the USA with less worship attendance and those who worship tend to gravitate toward “mega-Churches” (see especially, American Trends: Contemporary Religion by Mark Chaves). Nevertheless, perhaps God is dead to many people as the old ways and traditions were dead to many throughout the latter centuries of the Roman Empire. The question is before us: If this is indeed true what will replace it?
the power of faith are developed and can be used to show the problems in today’s culture.
The world of Neil Gaiman’s novel American Gods is a place where gods are brought into existence by the belief of humankind but also where they fade away into nothingness if that belief dies. All the deities from human myth and religion are able to exist, but only if there are people who are around who truly worship them. In the words of Wednesday, one of the gods of the story, “That’s what it’s like for my kind of people…we feed on belief, on prayers, on love” (Gaiman 225). In American Gods, Gaiman emphasizes America’s position as a place without any unique religious culture to call its own. Instead, it is country filled with the religions and myths of the many ethnic groups who carried their own culture with them when they arrived to the New World. American Gods is not just a novel about gods in America, however. This is also a story about how the gods reflect the best and worst attributes of American society. American Gods explores America’s lack of original religious traditions and analyzes the nature of religious belief in America.
Introduction: Neither the resolve of patriots nor the labor of men freed Americans from the hands of tyranny. The fathers of this nation, as well as those who fought for her ability to prosper were united by their unwavering faith and trust in God. The future of this world lay heavily upon their shoulders, yet they carried the burden willingly for the duration of their lives and passed it down from generation to generation. As a result, a new nation was born and grew into one of the most powerful countries of the world. Although America began as a Christian nation, it has pulled away from the fundamental beliefs that held this nation together. Despite their ancient predecessor’s emphasis on faith and Christianity, the current government has taken a more secular path. The legality of abortion and the exclusion of religious references in public institutions are a couple of examples how morality has been corrupted within the government. Society itself also forsakes the religious path, twisting the concept of morality to fit the lifestyles they wish to lead. David Barton uses line graphs to demonstrate the decrease of morality since 1950. Violent behavior, the circulation of sexually transmitted diseases, and the birth rate for unwed girls, has drastically inclined while educational achievement and family stability have dropped at an accelerated rate (242). It is apparent through the government’s choices, the media, and the attitudes present in average society that Americans have drifted far away from the principles on which this country was founded. Without a genuine faith and trust in God, American society will continue to deteriorate until memories of a once great nation are all that remains.
Religion, which is meant to enhance the faith of it followers, has done the opposite. The practices of religion have become overwhelmingly factual that the faith component of religion has vanished. In order to be a genuine beliver one must comprise an authentic faith. Both religious leaders and followers must realize that their religion is not factual, but sustained through faith. The key to the gates of heaven is faith, not facts.
Nietzsche?s most famous statement is, without a doubt, that ?God is dead? (GS 108/125, Z P 2, etc.). Through many years of being quoted, contemporary society seems to have lost the significance of such a profound statement. Perhaps the most frightening aspect of this statement is that ?we have killed him - you and I. All of us are his murderers? (GS 125). It is important to remember that Nietzsche did not believe this to be a literal event. Instead, he explains ?that the belief in the Christian god has become unbelievable? (GS 343). Such disbelief has begun to cast morality, indeed mankind?s meaning, into doubt. Without God, how can universal moral truths be justified? Where is the meaning of man?
Of course, this doesn’t truly disprove the biblical God, but it certainly puts it into perspective. According to Christian doctrine, God raised His Son, Jesus, from the dead. This seemingly impossible feat proves, in the minds of believers, that their god is capable of anything. But as indicated by Epicurus, the monumental roadblock of suffering hinders this leap of faith. For example, if God raised Jesus from the dead – and thus intervened in the ...
Nietzsche proclaimed in The Gay Science, "God is dead: but given the way men are, there may still be caves for thousands of years in which his shadow will be shown.-- And we -- we still have to vanquish his shadow, too."[1] The death he witnessed was the tide of atheism that has dominated science and philosophy since his time. This atheism invariably comes from one of two different backgrounds: Enlightenment science and Enlightenment morality.
that the idea of a God may be questioned or less acceptable to the people, when
Nietzsche grew up as a minister’s son, but by the time he reached early adulthood, he began to question his Christian faith and beliefs. He believed the Western culture outgrew the concept of God therefore causing “the death of God”. He obviously didn’t claim this literally, but rather believed that modern science and technology had taken the place of “God” in peoples life. Friedrich wasn’t affected by this, because he believed that society’s problems were caused by the Christian belief, that being poor and submissive was good, and being rich and strong was wicked (lllllll). He wanted people to get out of the box and do what they wanted to do without having their religion and morals hold them back from becoming someone powerful, rich and successful. The “Death of God”, according to Nietzsche, led to nihilism. This is the belief that that the universe lacks objective meaning and purpose (lllll). He predicted that in future years, people would feel empty when they felt that their religious values and science had nothing to offer to them.
The belief that morality requires God remains a widely held moral maxim. In particular, it serves as the basic assumption of the Christian fundamentalist's social theory. Fundamentalists claim that all of society's troubles - everything from AIDS to out-of-wedlock pregnancies - are the result of a breakdown in morality and that this breakdown is due to a decline in the belief of God. This paper will look at different examples of how a god could be a bad thing and show that humans can create rules and morals all on their own. It will also touch upon the fact that doing good for the wrong reasons can also be a bad thing for the person.