Nietzsche and a arrogant generation

This post comes from a recent insight that I have had in reading Nietzsche and contemplating the rise of the New Atheism. For a background to this post, I refer you to my friend's blog at academicchristianity.blogspot.com. Here you will find background to this post and be able to view a comment left by me under his heading, "Consider This".

I start with this question. Is the modern generation so arrogant as to think that they have 'evolved' and 'moved beyond' the heritage of their intellectual forefathers. Did the rise of the enlightenment accentuate the reality of the human reason or only the shallowness? It seems to me that with the rise of Darwinian motifs and the post-modern movement, God is all but dead for the man who is not looking for him. In fact, for the man or woman who holds to the naturalist worldview, for the man or woman who is a secular humanist, for the man or woman who believes in their capacity to reason, 'God' is not a viable option. In fact, 'God' is a weak option for a person who is weak (Darwinian intellectual selection at its best).

Nietzsche claimed, God is dead! There may be truth to that. At least for the man not looking for God, God is not relevant to him. However, can you see the metaphysical to know if he is really there? The irony is that the modern academic believes that his reason trumps the necessity of God for the whole world. Does this person think that everyone is ignorant, or only those who have not found salvation in the recesses of their own mental faculties. Do they think that they are above the intellectual tradition of the great statesman, philosophers, scientist, and theologians. Do they think that within one century, if it took that long, they have amassed enough insight with their reason to surpass the whole intellectual tradition of the known world. Maybe!

What seems blatant to me is not the question of the existence of God, although that s certainly important. Nor is it the Darwinian undertones that supplement the world view of many people. The grievance I have is with the person who is so arrogant to believe that their ability to reason actually nullifies the intellectual tradition of the past centuries. This person may answer that they have learned from the past intellectuals. To that I humbly submit, prove it!