The Madman

Have you not heard of that madman who lit a lantern in the bright morning hours, ran to the market place, and cried incessantly: "I seek God! I seek God!". As many of those who did not believe in God were standing around just then, he provoked much laughter. "Has he got lost?" asked one. "Did he lose his way like a child?" asked another. "Or is he hiding? Is he afraid of us?" "Has he gone on a voyage? emigrated?" Thus they yelled and laughed.
The madman jumped into their midst and pierced them with his eyes. "Whither is God?" he cried; "I will tell you. We have killed him---you and I. All of us are his murderers".
Fredrich Nietzsche

I have just read this story for the first time, and the idea of the "Death of God" which Nietzsche suggests seems very different than what I had been told. He does not portay society maturing and then outgrowing the need of God, but rather a violent and unessesary death of God. I am interested to hear other peoples' thoughts on what he means by God being not dead of natural causes, but that God has been murdered. Think of it like the game of Clue. Who killed God? Where did it happen? and What was the murder weapon? (my vote is on Colonel Mustard killed him, in the library, with the candle stick)