God Is Dead
As a kid growing up in the Soviet Union, I was taught that there is no evidence of God’s existence in the space and therefore there is no God. But this kind of outlook on the subject of God is not surprising due to our constant need for rational explanation. While concentrating on the proof of God’s existence we overlook the importance of belief in God. Such influential existentialists as Kierkegaard and Nietzsche are amongst numerous philosophers who discussed the topic of belief in God. Both philosophers were writing in the ninetieth century and are described by H.J. Blackham as “divided as the poles and as close as twins”(Blackham 23). If Kierkegaard asks us to believe in God even if it may seem absurd, Nietzsche states that time has come to abandon Christianity and “discover something new”(Raymond 174).
Despite being a theist and devoted Christian, Kierkegaard rejects the institution of Christianity. Being raised in a strict religious family Kierkegaard deliberately isolated himself in order to devote his life to religious purpose. He was deeply influenced by his father’s notion of sin and constant feeling of guild as a part of belief in God. He wrote throughout a time when Christianity was in its wake and, as described by H.J. Blackham, was “Denmark’s foremost philosopher, concerned with fundamental validities of thought and will”(Blackham 6). His attack on Christendom based on the opinion that Christianity became an empty religion and anyone could become a Christian without the understanding of its true meaning: “In the age where everyone is Christian, no one is Christian”(Raymond 98). He calls this phenomenon a “cultural malaise” or a poison that destroys people’s minds. In his opinion the fundamental truth about creating bond with God lies in becoming an individual by abandoning the crowd. Thus only by rejecting the crowd one can become an individual and therefore develop a bond with God: “ God does not...
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