Nietzsche and Scruton: The Death of God Destroys Culture
Secularization, while promising freedom from dogma, has proven to be an existential catastrophe for the West. As Roger Scruton observed, the rejection of transcendence did not make us autonomous but instead cast us into an "infinite void." The death of God, proclaimed by Nietzsche, destroyed the foundations upon which our civilization rested. Without reference to the sacrum, politics, law, and art lose their ultimate meaning, and the human being is reduced to the role of a biological mechanism. This article analyzes how, despite attempts to "disenchant" the world, the need for the divine returns in new, often deformed forms.
Modern Ideologies and Pop Culture: A Hidden Longing for the Sacred
The place of traditional religion has been taken by the immanentization of the eschaton—an attempt to build paradise on earth. Modern ideologies, such as communism or liberalism, have become "secular religions," offering their own rituals and visions of salvation. Pop culture also serves as a contemporary altar; the messiah archetype in Marvel films or theological struggles in fantasy literature prove that humanity cannot live without myth. At the same time, the world's great religions reveal different faces of God: from covenantal monotheism in Judaism and the Incarnation in Christianity to the absolute majesty of Allah in Islam and the search for fullness in Buddhist emptiness. Each of these traditions attempts to answer the same unquenchable longing for Mystery.
Guilt, Love, and Science: Metaphysical Proofs of Existence
Modern philosophy, from Descartes to Kant, unsuccessfully tried to separate reason from faith. However, Scruton points out that guilt and conscience are "echoes of transcendence"—an inner voice that cannot be reduced to biology. Similarly, love and beauty constitute metaphysical arguments; true feeling transcends the survival instinct, pointing toward a higher order of being. Even modern science, despite its reductionist tendencies, provides theistic premises. The Big Bang theory suggests a beginning to the universe, and the phenomenon of fine-tuning of physical constants points to the existence of an ordering Reason. Cosmology does not exclude a Creator but renders Him a more subtle foundation of reality.
Artificial Intelligence and Politics: Imago Dei vs. the Survival Machine
In the digital age, artificial intelligence simulates the sacrum, offering a technological substitute for immortality. Scruton warns, however, that the digital face is a "soulless face"—an algorithm that profanes the uniqueness of the person. This reduction of the human being to a "survival machine" strikes at the foundations of liberal democracy, which—as Tocqueville argued—requires a religious backbone to survive. The concept of imago Dei (man as the image of God) is the only barrier against the objectification of the individual in politics. Sacred patriotism and respect for the inviolability of the person are necessary conditions for a community not to dissolve into warring atoms subject to the cold logic of the market and technology.
Returning to the Sacred: A Condition for the West's Survival
The future of civilization depends on the ability to distinguish the authentic sacrum from its secular imitations. If everything becomes a commodity and the human face merely an interface, the world will lose its creative energy and erode. Roger Scruton argues that transcendence is not a luxury but the foundation of life. The true face of God is revealed in conscience, selfless love, and the beauty of nature. In a world dominated by algorithms, will we manage to rediscover that we are persons called to something more than just consumption? The answer to this question will decide the fate of the Western world.
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