Christian views on suicide

There has been much debate over the Christian views on suicide, with early Christians believing that suicide is sinful and an act of blasphemy. In modern times, some Christian churches reject this idea, although others still espouse and teach this view.

The rate of suicide among Catholics is consistently lower than among Protestants, with Jewish suicide usually lower than both, except during times of persecution against Jews, for instance, during World War II. But religion is not the only factor in per capita suicide: Among Catholics in Italy, the suicide rate is twice as high in Northern Italy than in the southern parts.[1] Hungary and Austria have majority Catholic populations but they are number 2 and number 5 in the list of countries that have the highest suicide rate.[2] And in Ireland, the Catholic and Protestant populations have the same low rate of suicide.[3] French sociologist Émile Durkheim wrote that the higher rate of Protestant suicide is likely due to the greater degree of "the spirit of free inquiry" in the various Protestant sects, whereas the Catholic church supplies its worshippers with a relatively unchanging system of faith, delivered by a hierarchy of authority.[4]

Early Christianity

Suicide was common before Christianity, in the form of personal suicide, to avoid shame or suffering, and also in the form of institutional suicide, such as the intentional deaths of a king's servants, the forced deaths of convicted criminals, the willing suicides of widows, and euthanasia for the elderly and infirm. The Donatists, an early Christian sect, contained a fanatical group named the Circumcellions who would attack strangers on the street and attain supposed martyrdom.[5] Early Christianity established a ban on suicide, greatly reducing its occurrence.[6]

In the fifth century, Augustine wrote The City of God, in it making Christianity's first overall condemnation of suicide. His biblical justification for this was the interpretation of the commandment, "Thou shalt not kill", as he sees the omission of "thy neighbor", which is included in "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor", to mean that the killing of oneself is not allowed either.[7] The rest of his reasons were from Plato's Phaedo.

In the sixth century AD, suicide became a secular crime and began to be viewed as sinful. In 1533, those who died by suicide while accused of a crime were denied a Christian burial. In 1562, all suicides were punished in this way. In 1693, even attempted suicide became an ecclesiastical crime, which could be punished by excommunication, with civil consequences following. In the 13th century, Thomas Aquinas denounced suicide as an act against God and as a sin for which one could not repent. Civil and criminal laws were enacted to discourage suicide, and as well as degrading the body rather than permitting a normal burial, property and possessions of the suicides and their families were confiscated.[8][9]

Protestant views

Psalm 139:8 ("If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.") has often been discussed in the context of the fate of those who die by suicide.[10][11]

Modern Catholicism
See also: Declaration on Euthanasia

According to the theology of the Catholic Church, death by suicide is a grave matter. The Church holds that one's life is the property of God, and to destroy that life is to wrongly assert dominion over God's creation, or to attack God remotely.[6] In the past, the Catholic Church would not conduct funeral services for persons who killed themselves, and they could not be buried in a Catholic cemetery.[12] However, the church lifted the prohibition on funerals for suicide victims in the 1980s.[13]

In the 1990s, Pope John Paul II approved the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which acknowledged the role that mental illnesses may play in suicide.[14] Regarding the effect of psychological disorders on a person's culpability, the Catechism states that:

Grave psychological disturbances, anguish, or grave fear of hardship, suffering, or torture can diminish the responsibility of the one committing suicide.[15]

Despite the fact that historical Catholic doctrine (possibly influenced by the Baltimore Catechism which was used until the 1960's[16]) generally considered suicide to be a mortal sin, the Catholic Church rejected this conclusion with the introduction of the Catechism of the Catholic Church,[17] which declared that:

We should not despair of the eternal salvation of persons who have taken their own lives. By ways known to him alone, God can provide the opportunity for salutary repentance. The Church prays for persons who have taken their own lives.[18]

The Catholic Church defines suicide very narrowly to avoid the extrapolation that Jesus's death was a type of suicide, brought about by his own choices, and to avoid the idea that Catholic martyrs choosing death is a valid form of suicide. Instead, Catholics give praise that Jesus resisted suicide throughout his trials, demonstrating that no degradation is so great that suicide can be justified. Martyrs are honored for the same reason.[6]

See also

References
  1. Clinard, Marshall; Meier, Robert (2007). Sociology of Deviant Behavior. Cengage. p. 350. ISBN 9780495093350.
  2. Berman, Alan Lee; Silverman, Morton M.; Bongar, Bruce Michael (2000). Comprehensive Textbook of Suicidology. Guilford. p. 471. ISBN 9781572305410.
  3. Grollman, Earl A. (1988). Suicide: Prevention, Intervention, Postvention. Beacon Press. p. 61. ISBN 9780807096390.
  4. Durkheim, Émile (2005). Suicide: A Study in Sociology. Routledge. p. 110. ISBN 9781134470228.
  5. "The Ancient Christian Cult Of Suicidal, Daredevil Martyrs". March 26, 2014.
  6. Barry, Robert (2017). Breaking the Thread of Life: On Rational Suicide. Routledge. pp. 20–22, 190. ISBN 9781351530798.
  7. http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/suicide/#ChrPro Michael Cholbi in Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy article on Suicide, section 2.2 The Christian Prohibition
  8. "Pips Project – THE STIGMA OF SUICIDE A History". Archived from the original on March 17, 2007.
  9. "Ophelia's Burial". elsinore.ucsc.edu.
  10. Dowie, J. A. (1902). Leaves of Healing. v. 11. Zion Publishing House. p. 702.
  11. Clemons, J. T. (1990). Perspectives on Suicide. Westminster John Knox Press. p. 55. ISBN 978-0-664-25085-0.
  12. Stark, Rodney; Bainbridge, William Sims (2013). Religion, Deviance, and Social Control. Routledge. p. 12. ISBN 9781135771591.
  13. Dine, Ranana Leigh (26 July 2019). "You shall bury him: burial, suicide and the development of Catholic law and theology". Medical Humanities. 46 (3): 299–310. doi:10.1136/medhum-2018-011622. Retrieved 7 January 2021.
  14. Mettler, Katie (14 December 2018). "'Father, please stop': Parents horrified after priest used teen's funeral to condemn suicide". The Washington Post. Retrieved 22 January 2021.
  15. "CCC § 2282". Catechism of the Catholic Church.
  16. Cho, Serena (10 June 2019). "Catholic community focuses on compassion rather than condemnation of suicide". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved 23 January 2021.
  17. Zaveri, Mihir; Fortin, Jacey (16 December 2018). "Priest Pulled From Funerals After Repeatedly Citing Teenager's Suicide in 'Pastoral Disaster'". The New York Times. Retrieved 23 January 2021.
  18. "CCC § 2283". Catechism of the Catholic Church.
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