The Will to Power

Book Two: A Criticism of the Highest Values That Have Prevailed Hitherto
I: Criticism of Religion

§252   Christianity should never be forgiven for having ruined such men as Pascal. This is precisely what should be combated in Christianity — namely, that it has the will to break the spirit of the strongest and noblest natures. One should take no rest until this one thing has been utterly destroyed: the ideal of mankind which Christianity advances, the demands it makes upon men and its Yes and No with regard to humanity. The whole of the remaining absurdities i.e. Christian fable, Christian cobweb-spinning in ideas and principles and Christian theology do not concern us; they might be a thousand times more absurd and we should not raise a finger to destroy them. But what we do stand up against is that ideal which, thanks to its morbid beauty and feminine seductiveness, thanks to its insidious and slanderous eloquence, appeals to all the cowardice and vanities of wearied souls — and the strongest have their moments of fatigue — as though all that which seems most useful and desirable at such moments — confidence, artlessness, modesty, patience, love of one’s fellows, resignation, submission to God and a sort of self-surrender — were useful and desirable per se; as the puny, modest abortion which in these creatures takes the place of a soul, this virtuous, mediocre animal and sheep of the flock which deigns to call itself man, were not only to take precedence over the stronger, more evil, more passionate, more defiant and more prodigal type of man, who by virtue of these very qualities is exposed to a hundred times more dangers than the former but were actually to stand as an ideal for man in general, as a goal, a measure the highest desideratum. The creation of this ideal was the most appalling temptation that had ever been put in the way of mankind, for with it the stronger and more successful exceptions, the lucky cases among men in which the will to power and to growth leads the whole type “man” one step farther forward, this type was threatened with disaster. With the values of this ideal the growth of these higher men, who, owing to their superior demands and duties readily accept a more dangerous life (speaking economically, it is a case of an increase in the costs of the undertaking coinciding with a greater chance of failure), this growth would be attacked at its roots. What is it we combat in Christianity? That it aims at destroying the strong, at breaking their spirit, at exploiting their moments of weariness and debility, at converting their proud assurance into anxiety and distress of conscience; that it knows how to poison the noblest instincts and to infect them with disease, until their strength, their will to power, turns inwards, against themselves — until the strong perish through their excessive self-contempt and self-immolation: that gruesome way of perishing, of which Pascal is the most famous example.

This concludes Nietzsche’s critique of Christianity; tomorrow begins his critique of morality.

If his language sometimes seems extravagant and harsh, consider this bizarre tweet issued just Friday by Mac Brunson, the pastor of First Baptist Church–Jacksonville.

Ask any engineer or scientist who has spent thousands of hours mastering the intricacies of his field, and who has felt the satisfaction and pride of watching a project mature to a product or building, whether “man has really created nothing.” Ask any doctor who has relied upon a new technology to save a life which, just a few years ago, would doubtless have perished. Ask any lawyer whether law, from Magna Carta to the United States Constitution, is not the creation of man.

Then ask yourself what could cause a pastor to libel those whose disciplined minds feed and shelter and heal and entertain him with a pronouncement so incomprehensibly stupid, and what are the values and knowledge of those who ‘favorite’ and ‘retweet’ his ignorance — and you will detect the justice of Nietzsche’s criticism. There is a lot of the malice of the second-rate against their betters at the bottom of Christian thought.