Why did Friedrich Nietzsche think traditional religion gave suffering ultimate meaning?

Friedrich Nietzsche argued that traditional religion, particularly the Judeo-Christian tradition, utilized the "ascetic ideal" to make human suffering tolerable by imbuing it with ultimate significance.1

By interpreting suffering as an expression of God’s intention and as a necessary occasion for atonement, religion provided a framework that justified existence as something requiring explanation or expiation. Nietzsche believed this was a "flattering doctrine," as it fostered the conceit that individual lives and deaths possess cosmic importance, often through the promise of personal immortality.1

Ultimately, Nietzsche viewed this as a symptom of a "declining life." He contended that by denigrating earthly experience in favor of a "true" world—such as a divine afterlife—traditional religion and philosophy sought to escape the inherent meaninglessness of existence rather than confronting it directly.1