If you're familiar with the german philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, you're familiar with the phrase: "God is dead."

It appeared in numerous works of Nietzsche, but the one that I'd like to talk about here is Thus Spoke Zarathustra, which is held responsible for popularizing the phrase.

The idea stated in "The Madman" is as follows:

Often times the phrase is misconstrued to take death in a physical sense. Nietzsche was attempting to convey a metaphorical death with such statements.

"God is dead" isn't literal in meaning that God has physically died. It means that the idea of god, which is religion and spirituality, is no longer able to act as a source of moral code or teleology. (Teleology is the philosophical study of design and purpose.)

Nietzsche has long recognized the crisis which the death of God represents for existing moral considerations, because:


In "The Madman", the madman primarily addresses the atheists - the problem is to retain any system of values in the absence of a divine order.

In Thus Spoke Zarathustra, the protagonist also speaks "God is dead" to a hermit who sings songs, every day, to glorify his god.

Quote:

And what is the saint doing in the forest?' asked Zarathustra. The saint answered: 'I make songs and sing them; and when I make songs, I laugh, cry, and hum: thus do I praise God. With singing, crying, laughing, and humming do I praise the god who is my god. But what do you bring us as a gift?' When Zarathustra had heard these words he bade the saint farewell and said: 'What could I have to give you? But let me go quickly lest I take something from you!' And thus they separated, the old one and the man, laughing as two boys laugh. But when Zarathustra was alone he spoke thus to his heart: 'Could it be possible? This old saint in the forest has not yet heard anything of this, that God is dead!' —Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Prologue, sect. 2.

Later Zarathustra refers, not only to the death of God, but that "Dead are all the Gods". Not only one morality has died, but all of them. And they are to be replaced by what is called the übermensch, the new man/superman:

So what are your thoughts on this? Do you believe that God is dead? Can humanity survive and continue a moral code without any divine order?

Edited by Kovich: Please remain on topic.

God is a human constructed idea. When people cease to believe in him, he ceases to exist.

I manage my moral code just fine without any god (Zarquon and FSM excepted of course) so I'd imagine the rest of humanity would get along if they started using logic and common sense.

I don't believe that God is necessarily dead, but in the process of dying. In the coming years religion will be abolished and, at last, Science and Reason shall prevail.

I'm not a religious person - I don't necessarily believe in a God or a system of Gods, I don't believe in worship or praise, nor do I believe in any sort of organized religion. I don't believe that anything can create itself, nor can a being be omniscient, omnipotent, or omnipresent.

However, I still carry a strong amount of morals. I'm a very ethical person. Do I do the right thing because I'm afraid of God striking me down or sending me to hell? Absolutely not. I do it because I have a conscience - something inside of me that directs me to what is wrong, and what is right.

But could God be our conscience? Perhaps that voice inside of us that tries to lead us down a moral path is God. It's possible, isn't it?

I'd prefer to think of our consciences as a product of rationality and compassion rather than some supernatural thing.

Likewise. But it's definitely still an interesting thing to consider.

It's possible, I guess, as much as any other theory about god. I just hate subscribing perfectly rational things to supernatural. Pantheism is an example of this. Why perfectly rational people insist on calling the forces of nature "god" is totally beyond me.

guess we will all find out when its our time to go... and if you appear infront of the pearly gates and find yourself saying fuck i was wrong... but it could go your way to, you could die and be not able to say fuck i was wrong... heaven sounds pretty good to mso i'd rather believe in something and be safe either way, if my belief is right i go to heaven if its wrong, i'll be non the wiser anyhow.

Biblical heaven sounds like torture to me. Never did actually like the idea of it, even as a practicing christian.

if that's torture what are your views of hell?