>> 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.
Brett
>Yea, OK...but i don't think you'll find statistics that show
religious
>people commit suicide more often than less religious people.
I notice that Nateman has self-destructed .... at least
partially because he felt guilty about not staying within the bounds of
discussion on the list. I think the group .... and especially the
oldest members of the group ... like you Brett ... are more responsible
for keeping the group on track then the newer members like Nateman or
Sodom. How could you fail to point out that any Meme that has a happy
life after death component must also have a strong anti-suicide
component in order to survive? Two cases that come to mind are 1) an
encyclical from the medieval church that made self-abnegation difficult
because too many people were dieing from it and 2) the Shakers here in
America who didn't believe in members having sex. I believe the last
couple of Shakers died in the eighties. I guess a third instance would
be Jihad - where you can choose to die early for Allah and get a seat on
the floor of paradise or live a miserable Muslim life and get a seat in
the bleachers. I leave it up to someone else to let me know where the
other sons of Abraham go, much less the infidels.