God is dead

“God is dead!” I heard a man speak as I walked through the city, “we killed him, and this is humanity’s greatest achievement.” I shook my head as I continued to walk through the sprawling metropolis.

It sounded bizarre to me, and I wanted to reply, “For centuries, we took pride in our scientific achievement. We celebrated mathematicians, partied when we established a civilization on Mars. We harnessed the Sun itself for a cheap, endless supply of energy, and yet you consider killing God our greatest achievement?”

The sky was lit but the city lights and dark clouds veiled the bright moon. My heart grew heavy, and I had to steel myself to shrug the feeling of hopelessness away. I continued to walk through the crowded and strangely lonely street of the metropolis. Couples walked together, hand in hand, but I found no love in their eyes. People drank and smiled, but there was no joy on their faces. People rushed for work without feeling the passion burning their hearts.

“Sir!” an old man with tattered clothes and crusty beard walked up to me. He was stooped, and I could see his skeleton underneath his skin, “Can you help this old man?”

“Yeah!” out of pity, I handed the old man a couple of bills to buy himself a nice meal. I started again when I noticed people around me stared at me with derision as if I had done something horrible. They didn’t want me to help an old man who needed food? I couldn’t help but question, “Where did we go wrong?”

Somewhere in our scientific achievements, rampant consumerism, and revered hustle we forgot what being human meant. I shake my head and continue to walk amongst monsters called humans, “I’m a human too.” I had to remind myself before I began hating people around me.

Did this all begin when we, in our arrogance decided to find God and kill him? Did we lose our humanity when we killed Him? It was so long ago, I was a little kid back then when the video was broadcast. Every human, man, woman, the child sat in front of a screen and watched soldiers behead God, “Now, we can be free!” I remembered my father dancing with joy, “Finally, we’ll have progress!”

All these years I believed what society told me, but now I had to question the legitimacy of these claims. “Was god stopping us from progress? Or it was the whole time that prevented progress and equity. Was he to be blamed for our sorrow? Did he make us, nay force us, to be miserable?”

I stopped by a restaurant and purchased a bowl of warm soup and continued to walk through the brightly lit street lined with hoardings and posters of human slaves, “Get one today,” the posters read, “Cultivated in a lab, they are your perfect assistant.” At the cross-section, I handed the bowl of soup to Nancy who smiled at me and waved me bye.

“Thank you, Francis,” I heard her shout as I crossed the street.

“But is he dead?” I asked myself.

I stopped and kneeled beside a small box opposite a human trade shop folded my arms in silent prayer, “As long as there is a believer, God cannot die.” I closed my eyes and prayed for forgiveness for all of mankind. I prayed for strength to change the world. I prayed for courage to fight against fellow humans in hope that I could make them better humans.

“No,” I said to myself as I got up to my feet, “I don’t think he’s dead. Who was God? He’s nothing but a construct of strength, faith, and humanity. As long as I have faith in myself, as long as I have the strength to change the world, as long as I’m human He cannot die!”