Hi everyone!

I'm new to Friedrich Nietzsche's philosophy and have recently written a reflection covering some of the concepts I have already studied. Given this, I would appreciate anyone who could read and provide some feedback concerning the following text (e.g., misunderstood concepts, clarity mistakes). I also want to note that (1) English is not my native language and (2) I probably over explain some of the concepts since I want to consolidate my knowledge. Thanks in advance for any feedback!

Non-practising Christianity proofs that Western Europeans still avoid the death of God

19th century philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche famously announced the death of God, meaning that, in a post-Enlightenment world, the rise of science and individualism has led to a search for life's meaning beyond religious dogma. However, Nietzsche was terrified of this recognition, since it would allegedly indicate a future in which Western Europe^([1]) would directly stare at the abyss: our old meaningless values would be substituted by passive nihilism. This meant that, with no divine explanation, "the whole of our European morality" was destined for "collapse", marked by a period of disorientation and mourning.

Who will, in this scenario, give meaning to our life? Who will explain to us that there is an after-life? Who will define the limits of our knowledge? Give a meaning to our suffering?

Nonetheless, in the 21st century, Christianity still has its place in Western European society. Some still go to church every Sunday; people are still baptised; and the vast majority still celebrate Christmas and other Catholic traditions. Verily, Nietzsche accounted for this and recognised that, although "God is dead", "given the way of men, there may still be caves for thousands of years in which his shadow will be shown". In what follows I want to focus on this shadow which is still projected today.

A report done by the Pew Research Center (2018) stated that although many Western Europeans identify as Christian, few attend church regularly. In fact, across 15 Western European countries, only 18% of the population were considered church-attending Christians (those who go to religious services at least once a month) compared to the 46% of non-practising Christians (people who identify as Christians, but attend church services no more than a few times per year).

In my opinion, this is a middle point in Western European morality crisis. These 46% are a prime example of humanity's attempt to balance the inevitable nihilism with our old religious values. "Non-practising Christians" don't truly believe in God's word, given that, otherwise, they would practice their faith; but they do find comfort in God's existence, although groundless. Christianity affirms after-life, gives meaning to our suffering and it offers a blue-print of values. But these 46% don't really care about sin, commitment or Christianity's dogma. A clear sign of this partial rejection happens when there is a generalised recognition of science, even if it goes against religious truths — one can believe in Darwin's model of evolution and disregard Adam and Eve's story. Thus, I argue, there is a selection of religious beliefs tailored to one's need for moral justification.

I believe I am not making sweeping generalisations when I say that Non-practising Christians follow passive nihilism, in the sense that they don't build their own values, but still find some general, modern benchmark to live by (e.g., comfort, security). They see the abyss but look at God as a white-lie-distraction, not reevaluating their personal values.

In conclusion, the current non-practising Christianity tendency is, in my view, a distraction to nihilism. To avoid the tensing need to create your own values (to become a "child"), some still embrace Christianity's beliefs as a baseline to their existence.

1. To stay within Friedrich Nietzsche boundaries and to avoid reckless generalisations, I will be only analysing Western Europe. Nevertheless, I believe this idea could be extended to other cultures, if backed by data. ↩︎