Thanks, Deedee! And Happy New Year! I'm actually not claiming anything. Just giving my personal opinion. Statistics give us just numbers. The cause and effect is up for interpretation, but we do need to do our best to find the cause and do something about it. The suicide statistics are surprising and interesting to me. I'm just throwing statistics out there in response to OzmO's question about atheists and suicide. I did hear on the radio a couple of years ago that suicide rates in Switzerland are among the highest in the world, but they did not mention religion. It was more about how money isn't everything. Secularism in Europe contrasted with devotion to God in America is also very interesting to me and it raises many questions.
My point is mainly that the claim that religion poisons everything and that the world would be better off without God is false.
Happy New Year to you too!
I'm not sure that the US is all that much more devout in following the teachings of Jesus as you may think. In many areas of the US, people are dependent on the church and their fellow congregants (sp?) as a kind of social network. Career opportunities, safety net in case of illness, social relationships. Much of what people get in more secular countries out of those clubs and activities Hedge mentioned.
Most suicides are the result of socio-economic hardships, mental illness, cultural pressures. It's been proven that inclimate weather is also a factor. The assisted suicides you speak of that are tolerated in more secular countries may be the ultimate act of compassion by a highly evolved, caring culture. (Assisted suicides generally refers to helping those who are ravaged by the extreme pain experienced with terminal illness and lingering in the final months without any shred of human dignity, not aiding some drunken teenager who just broke up with his girlfriend.)
Based on available data it seems that those who are isolated from others are more likely to off themselves. So, a depressed, lonely atheist is probably going to commit suicide long before a depressed Christian with access to a social community. A depressed atheist with a social network is less likely to kill him/herself than a christian living in isolation. We're pack animals.
I think the extraordinary murder rate in the US versus the rest of the civilized world is even more telling.
