Why is it that Christians say Atheists have a higher suicide rate.?

Question

I have never ever heard of one Atheist killing him/herself.But yet you are the ones with the high count.For example when Rev Jim Jones and his followers killed themselves most of them where Christians.

Answer 1

Because Christianity is a cult. Cult leaders will say anything to gain a following.

Answer 2

This one could be a trick of semantics. How many times have you heard it said that the Christians who do this or that aren't really Christians? I know I've heard it a lot, and while there is logic to it, it's also a copout. So here's my thought. If a person commits suicide, that person is directly disobeying one of God's commandments. Not only that, it's an action that leaves no room for absolution after the fact. If a person were to do something like that, there's no way they could be a Christian, right? Therefore, it would only be logical that atheists would have a higher suicide rate than Christians, once you dispose of all the 'false Christians'.

Then again, who knows? That could be an actual statistic. I could see it being true. Atheists don't believe in eternal pain and suffering if they kill themselves. If a Christian was miserable and killed himself, he'd be trading one kind of suffering for a much worse kind. If an atheist was miserable and killed himself, he'd be trading suffering for neutral, which could be considered a step in the right direction. Of course, it would then be unfair to use that statistic to say that atheists as a whole are less happy than Christians when all it means that unhappy atheists have another out available to them. I'd be curious to see if this is actually a recorded, viable stat.

Answer 3

Oops - someone rang the stereotyping bell and I missed it.

I'm a Christian and I have NEVER claimed that atheists have a higher suicide rate than Christians. That would be as absurd as you claiming that atheists do not commit suicide.

There are vast multi-millions of followers of the Christian faith in the world. 900 people were at Jonestown, who mistakenly chose to follow a lunatic there. Multi-millions worldwide - 900 at Jonestown - surely you don't think you can logically compare the two examples.

As far as the Jonestown victims, who cannot now speak for themselves, I believe many of them were forced to drink the Koolaid. If they didn't Jim Jones had directed for them to be shot. From the tapes of that horrible event, it doesn't sound like most people died willingly.

Answer 4

Ok dude, Jim Jones....bad example. I have never heard that Atheists have a higher suicide rate, though it makes sense to me if they do. One big thing that is supposed to keep us Christians from commiting suicide is that it is the only unforgivable sin so off to hell you go. (You can't ask for forgiveness because you're dead.) I am a Christian, but I have thought about suicide if I have a money draining, miserable illness. Not to reduce my misery, but to relieve my family from the torture of having to take personal care of me or have medical costs drain all of my assets so that my children are left with nothing. We have mercy on our pets and don't want them to suffer, but we make sure our humans suffer every little minute and all their family and friends right along with them. Ridiculous.

Answer 5

I've never heard a single Christian express an opinion of any kind, one way or the other, on the suicide rates of atheists versus the suicide rates of Christians or Jews or Buddhists or anyone else.

I can't believe that you would put such an assertion into the mouths of Christians unless you had something concrete to back it up. How about letting us in on what it is?

Answer 6

I wouldn't believe it. Like you said, it didn't keep them from killing themselves before. A Christian could believe themselves unworthy and a failure or stuck between a rock and a hard place and commit suicide. An atheist may not have anyone to pray to but isn't under as much pressure. Depression doesn't have a denomination.

Answer 7

I don't know, it's just one of these unfounded statistics people like to quote. I would think that most suicides are from people who are Christian, due if anything to the simple fact that there are much more Christians than atheists, so it's statistically inevitable that you'll find their numbers higher in such random categories.

Answer 8

They are probably counting the actual statistics. True, suicide is not common among atheists here in the free world. But look at suicide rates among atheists in the former Soviet Union, China, Vietnam, North Korea, Cambodia, etc.

Answer 9

I haven't heard about that either but of course I'm not surprised they would say that. Some of these Christians would do their damndest to try and vilify atheists as well as others who are not Christians. It's just another way for them to feel high and mighty about themselves.

Answer 10

I have never heard a Christian say that. They know more Christians suicide and end up in insane asylums. You can't deny facts that are well-known.