Luther, in practice, said: Christ yes, the Church no.
Then came the French Revolution and Liberalism have gone a step further: God yes, Christ no.
Finally, the atheistic Marxism: God is dead. "
Until the mid-nineteenth century all these heresies were rife in the world but the Church opposed it vigorously.
Then began a slow penetration, subtle and creeping into the Bride of Christ. St. Pius X was able to vanquish the modernism, the synthesis of all heresies, but after his death, the process continued slowly, until it explodes during and after the Second Vatican Council.
Think about it -- for the devil, which is better?
"God is dead."
or what you have in most Vatican II-brainwashed Catholics today?
What DO you have with most Novus Ordo Catholics?
They believe in God, so their spiritual cravings are satisfied, yet God is made totally irrelevant in their life. He seems to demand nothing of them.
I think that trying to turn God into a lapdog (an expression coined by Bishop Williamson) is even more insidious than trying to pretend God doesn't exist.
I think it's a great analogy -- the Novus Ordo Catholics trot out God on Sundays, or when they have some crisis in their life, in order to feel better, but the rest of the time they keep Him in His cage. Who lets their pet dog run their life, anyhow? A pet dog is kept for sentimentality and pleasure -- not out of justice.