Nietzsche says that with the loss of faith in the Christian God “we are losing the center of gravity by virtue of which we lived” (20). The absence of God deprives life of a focal point and meaning, leading to nihilism. But why is God so important to meaning? Can science and consumerism simply take God’s place? On an obvious interpretation, God provides a purpose to existence. If an infinitely wise and benevolent being made us and the universe, life has inherent meaning. Even if we are not fully aware of it, we are part of some broader “plan.” Further, such a meaning is cemented by the concept of an afterlife. If, after death, we are rewarded for our actions in life, then not only do our choices have meaning but death itself is no longer the end.

Yet this traditional and rationalistic theory about God’s importance for meaning ignores, in Nietzsche’s view, the more immanent sense in which the idea of God lends meaning to the fabric of our experiences and our relationship to the world. Nietzsche’s thesis is summed up in a remark about the state of humanity in the “modern age” (16). He says, “Man has lost dignity in his own eyes to an incredible extent. For a long time, [he was] the center and tragic hero of existence in general” (16). In the absence of God, we lose the sense that our lives are playing out before a grand spectator. We lose the feeling of being unique characters in a cosmic drama in which God is both director and audience.

For Nietzsche, God’s significance lies not only in God’s existence as an omnipotent and omniscient entity but also in God’s connection to a matrix of meaning-giving values called morality, which provide guidelines for how to live and connect us to others. God and morality provide an organizing structure and coherence to life. As Nietzsche says, with God there is “some sort of unity, some form of ‘monism’ […] a deep feeling of standing in the context of, and being dependent on, some whole” (12). Morality provides the structure through which we have a shared sense of purpose and meaning. It provides the sense of occupying a common world of meaning, where our actions and feelings have a shared point of reference. Conversely, its loss means disorientation—being alienated from the world, from others, and from ourselves, and descending into isolated chaos.

Nietzsche says, “those who have abandoned God cling that much more firmly to the faith in morality” (16). While many people since the Enlightenment have stopped believing in God, they still wish to have the consolations and meaning that this belief gives. Thus, they attempt to maintain Christian morality, in Nietzsche’s broad sense of the term, without the Christian God. This effort has taken the form of movements like socialism, humanism, scientific humanism, and the belief in “progress.” These movements maintain faith in “the eventual triumph of truth, love, and justice” (20). They cling to the idea of a unity of human beings and shared meaning and purpose. For Nietzsche, though, this belief is self-deceiving. If God is an illusion, then so too are the consoling beliefs and moral principles of Christianity. To truly confront nihilism, and perhaps move beyond it, we must recognize that the death of the Christian God brings with it the death of Christian morality.