The "Death of God" both as a phrase and as theological movement has always baffled me. It's complete nonsense whether you are a believer or a non-believer. If God, defined as the supreme being who is both perfect and all powerful, exists such an entity cannot die. An incarnation of perfection would in theory be eternal by definition. If you don't believe in God then death is also not a possibility. You cannot die if you never existed in the first place. And, yes, I have heard numerous individuals comment along the same lines and be criticized for it. Most critiques are along the lines that that way of thinking is too literal. Is it really? Even symbolically the phrase has no real meaning and it still translates poorly into a theological movement.
The moment you moved towards a more symbolic frame you are essentially conceding, whether you admit it or not, that God is purely conceptual. From this perspective I would argue that "death" is not possible. Once introduced, concepts are virtually impossible to completely eliminate. Concepts can be modified and altered but are rarely eradicated. The fact that people still think and talk about God proves that the concept is still "alive." So long as even a tiny fraction of the population are aware of a version of the concept it will not cease to exist.
I have routinely come across references or pieces on the topic over the past few decades and expect that I will continue to run into them for the foreseeable future. The most recent piece that prompted me to comment was a Edges of Faith post on Patheos, "The Foolish Death of God"
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