phrase
God Is Dead
Nietzsche's claim that traditional religious belief no longer grounds Western culture โ and the consequences are about to be enormous.
Origin
From The Gay Science (1882): 'God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him.' Nietzsche wasn't celebrating atheism โ he was warning that without religion, Europe would need to construct new sources of meaning, and might fail.
Modern usage
Quoted constantly, almost always out of context. Often used to score easy cultural points; less often as Nietzsche intended.
Tags
religion
meaning