Religion represents one of the most important aspects of humans' history, placing it at the base of many cultural debates. However, in the 17th century, the rise of rationalism, and modern liberalism brought new thinking streams undermining the legitimacy of the Church. Philosophers like Descartes promoted reason while Newton and his scientific colleagues discovered physical concepts, changing our conception of the world. However, most of these 17th century thinkers remained linked to the church, promoting its for many years. An important philosopher, Nietzsche, born in the middle of the 19th century, brought new ideas and tried to present his philosophy on the "death" of God. At this point in time, the industrial's ruled society, humanity entered a new era, and church began losing its power. We are going to explore the following question: Is Nietzsche an atheist or a depth-theologian in the tradition of St-Paul? In my opinion, Nietzsche represents one of the first generations of philosophers claiming that the idea behind God is up to die. In the following essay, we are going to analyze Nietzsche statements and explore the link between the Death of God and Nihilism. .
First of all, one of Nietzsche's conclusions on the Death of God concerns the link between Nihilism and the principle of Being and Becoming. According to the dictionary, Nihilism leads to the rejection of all religious and moral principles, while promoting a constant skepticism toward real existence. Hence, as mentioned by Paul Catanu, "Nihilism is attained when we realize that Becoming aims at nothing and that Becoming has no goal. Nietzsche claims that the source of nihilism is the death of God". Nietzsche then claims that when God dies, we ourselves must become gods."(p.355) By putting Nietzsche's claim back into its time period, would it not be emphasizing the idea that humans have been manipulated by the Church since to many centuries and must now evolve to become gods themselves? Indeed, the Pope's organization definitely limited their believers' conscience and principles to promote the idea of a God, which manage to be and become supreme.
