Why did Nietzsche say that God is dead?

      

  My goal is not to make people irreligious. Just as religion has harmful aspects, it also has beneficial aspects. Without religion, funerals, cremations, burials, prayers, festivals, last rites, marriages, these would not exist. Funerals are a very important matter. Formal farewell to a living being after death, this does not happen to any other animal except humans. What does a funeral give us? It seems to give nothing, but if you look deeply, you will see that it creates a kind of 'sense of meaning' in society. God may not matter in prayer, but it brings about a big change in the mind of the person praying. The cultural and moral values ​​of society are also preserved to some extent by religion. Religion has a good role in serving justice, rule of law, rights, equality. Why did Nietzsche say that God is dead? Nietzsche's words do not mean that God is no longer needed, or that God is dead. Rather, he said the words with regret. Because at that time, the Christian morality based on religion was rapidly disappearing in Europe. As a result, there was a fear that society would move towards a nihilistic vacuum. It was out of this fear that people would not become mechanical robots and lose the meaning of life by falling into the trap of machine civilization, that Nietzsche uttered - God is dead! Just as preservatives are needed to preserve juice for a long time, religion is also needed to preserve any tradition, ritual, custom, culture. In this regard, religion is a kind of cultural preservative.

But what is 'religion'? Religion is a 'package of cultures' or a gathering of cultures. When certain cultures merge and prevail in society in the form of collective traditions, it is called religion. 'Religion' and 'institutional religion' are not the same thing. Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, these are institutional religions. Organized religion. Organized religion is aggressive. It has political power. Other religions, other beliefs, other prophets, other cultures, institutional religions are not tolerant of these."

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—Mohiuddin Mohammad

Page 30-31, Book: Murtibhanga Project