The existential crisis in the Shadows

Religion in America is a dying belief. People would rather believe in the new programs

that are airing on CBS than in the Gods of a religion. The christian religion was once the

strongest sect in the western world, but this is not the case anymore, If we survive and science

progresses, we will manipulate the genome, rearrange the atom, and augment the mind. And if

science defeats suffering and death, religion as we know it will die. Without suffering and death,

religion will have lost its raison dtre. For who will pray for heavenly cures, when the cures

already exist on earth? Who will die hoping for a reprieve from the gods, when science offers

immortality? (Messerly). People are rapidly dropping the strong beliefs that have been so

prevalent in the American society. These people are replacing it different forms of technology

and science. This scientific belief makes people run to the cold touch of a keyboard instead the

supposed warm touch of a God for comfort. A society Progresses the allure of God's fade away

to distant memories. Now these gods of the past need to be replaced with something for one to

believe in,

Now, as all of you will have had reason aplenty to discover for yourselves, there are new
gods growing in America, clinging to growing knots of belief: gods of credit-cards and
freeways, of internet and telephone, of radio and of hospital and television, gods of
plastic, and of beeper and neon. Proud gods, fat and foolish creatures, puffed up with
their own newness and importance (Gaiman 176).

People need something to believe in. And as society progresses these things of belief must also

progress. As different eras and societies end there must be an end to the gods that ruled those

societies. Updating society is necessary to keep moving on as a whole, so gaining new deities is

a normal practice while the old ones slip through the cracks. These new gods wont take the

same form as their predecessors. They will be in shape of dollar bills and iPhones, He said

atheists are heavily concentrated in economically developed countries and religion will decrease
as individuals' personal wealth increases. The book proposes that people do not have to rely on

supernatural influences when material possessions are catering to their needs (Barber).

Changing traditions is what people look to do every day. Confiding into ones new xbox in times

of stress is easier for people to do in the twenty first century than talking to a being which may or

may not actually be there. Possessions are readily there and are physical objects that everyone

can place their trust in and can be updated as soon as one gets bored with the old one. These new

gods still have to compete with the present gods for total control, You tell Wednesday this, man.

You tell him hes history. Hes forgotten. Hes old. And he better accept it. Tell him that we are

the future and we dont give a fuck about him or anyone like him. His time is over (Gaiman 70).

Now these new gods arent cognizant that they are replacing traditional gods, but people know it

and they love it. Technology is the future and its something people live off. All great

civilizations have risen and fallen. This is the same for these old gods and old traditions. As

people age and pass they take their views with them. Soon all the old beliefs will die and they

will be replaced with these new gods whether they like it or not. New ideology will continue to

surface; pushing older ideology further and further into the history books.