> Brett Lane Robertson wrote:
>
> > i can
> > imagine that to people with an extreme case of depression could
> > easily
> >
> > prefer death, especially if they were religious and had reason to
> > hope
> >
> > for a continued "happy" existence.
> >
> > Sodom
> > MODOS spelled backwards
> >
> > Yea, OK...but i don't think you'll find statistics that show
> > religious
> >
> > people commit suicide more often than less religious people.
> >
> > Brett
> >
> > Returning,
> > rBERTS%n
> > Rabble Sonnet Retort
> > Every man has a right to be wrong in his opinions.
> > But no man has a right to be wrong in his facts.
> >
> > Bernard Baruch
>
> I don't know that, but now that you mention it, I'll check. My
> guess
> is that you will find higher instances of all violent crime relative
> to religion. My guess is that Christianity has the highest instances
> per capita of violence across the spectrum, including suicide. I'm
> going to look for this info. I'll let you know what I find, either
> way.
>
> Sodom
>
Sodom, I don't mind your backpeddling here. But isn't that what I'm
accused of? You're saying "I'll just bet those evil ole Christians
are responsible for more violent deaths than anybody else." Now, you set out
to prove it? You could be right of course, but some people used a
term of "backmasking" when I pointed out that prophecies existed in
the Old Testament and were fulfilled in the New. I think this is a
perfect example of how science works. You did not start with a fresh
hypothesis,i.e., the one suggested to you above: "What, if any role,
does religion play in suicide? Funny isn't it how our mindset
determines what we look for. Or as Einstein so aptly put it: our theories
determine our selection of facts--not the other way around. Then you
would have to ask other things like: Inquisition by the Catholic
Church; David Korish--is he considered "Christian" though traditional
Christainity would object to that? What about Northern Ireland--is
that religion, economics, what? Getting the "info" may be more
difficult than you think. Could you subtract the deaths of the
Christians at Rome? Or would you put the deaths on their own heads
for being so stubborn as to not recant their allegience to Christ?
Would you, in fact, consider them "suicides". That is what one Roman
emperor said to them when they kept stepping up to admit their
allegience to Christ even though it meant sure death: Ye miserable
wretches, he said, aren't their cliffs enough to throw yourselves off
of? Chardin