LOL I think that the faithful live by a stronger code.  Suicide also equals Hell in a lot of religions.  Otherwise, wouldn't they all want to go to heaven?

@Colorsofthenight - It is an odd thing. Those who think this life is all there is, are the most likely to end it. That seems to make no sense

@trunthepaige - welcome to humans 101 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLrnkK2YEcE

We were chosen because we are stupid.  We make abstract associations. 

@trunthepaige - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ltyk5x9adU0

the word of the day is "HOPE". no matter how tough it gets, a *believer in a higher power* has hope. that may be one of the greatest benefits to being a believer. the atheist chooses (that's right—CHOOSES) to think there is nothing else out there so when they reach the end of their rope, there is nothing left.

by the way, "choosing" to not believe in this case is NOT the same as saying gay people "choose" their lifestyle so don't even go there. atheistic people have been offered time and again to hear a believer's point of view. they mostly choose to argue about it and use hostile or scientific methodology to dig in their heels. that is a choice.

It would seem that this post is a response to @Godlessliberal 's tour de force attack on Mitt Romney and Mormonism.

That's what it was actually.  He was just using the tragic death of one of his friends to score a few cheap points against religion and all those rascally Republicans.

His post makes him the Pied Piper of Hate Land and he's come for the children of Xanga.

I wish you well. And I hope Xanga's children run for their lives.

Also, poorer countries have the lowest suicide rates

@Nushirox2 - People in poor countries are too miserable suffering from bone grinding poverty and tyranny to contemplate suicide.

Great post. Statistics seem to escape progressives...

@PrisonerxOfxLove - I think they probably value life more than we do.

@Nushirox2 - I think people in general tend to cherish their lives. But suicide probably resorts from some sort of mental illness. And I wouldn't doubt if affluence was some sort of factor.

For anyone to turn a blind eye to hurting people is plain evil. I don't care about the rates of suicide among certain groups of people. The bottom line is, Christians should be helping these people, not trying to convert them, or worse, mock them. Sadly, that's too often the case. 

@Composing_Life -  I don't choose to be an Atheist any more than I choose to recognize the sky is blue or that I'm not a man.  Why do you think differently?

@jmallory - Those are beautiful words.  You are a gem of a Christian.

I would not call the USA a highly Christian nation. In mainstream American culture, "religion", "Christ", "Jesus", and "sin" are all considered to be "dirty" words. As for the homosexuals, I find it extremely sad that my brothers and sisters, who are called to Jesus' representatives in the world see it fit to reprimand, oppress, and exclude valuable members of our society and congregations based on nothing more than whom they love. Speaking of suicide, it makes sense that there would be higher suicide rates in atheists because there is no accountability involved, nor is there any sort of hope to cling on to. I love science, I do, but it's not ENOUGH to give someone the hope that is necessary to carry you through those dark times.

Wow, you mean that persecuted minorities (like homosexuals and atheists in many areas) have a higher rate of depression? Shocker.

Also, you may have just skipped over this little nugget of wisdom from the article, which is completely understandable considering it's in the free abstract which prefaces the article and is thus the author's idea of what the important points to take away from this are: "Unaffiliated subjects were younger, less often married, less often had children, and had less contact with family members." So it's also saying that young people alone in the world were more suicidal.

Or how about: "Some of this difference may be due to underreporting in religious countries because of concerns over stigma"

I thought this was important: "The greatest protective effect of religion on suicide is reported to be
present in subjects who have relatives and friends of the same religion" Ahh, so they have a COMMUNITY to support them. And (since this is obviously, as Curtis pointed out, a not-so-sly rebuttal to my post) it would seem that risk of suicide would rise when that COMMUNITY rejects a person, thereby rendering them alone.

And I really loved this little gem from the article:" Therefore, it is possible that depressed patients who stated that they
were atheists or had no religion had abandoned religion as a consequence
of depression or hopelessness." So when you're depressed you may claim (since this entire study was done by personal statements as data) that you don't care about religion. For those of you unfamiliar with clinical depression (of which every person in this was diagnosed with) one of the major symptoms is disinterest in previously enjoyable activities. So when you're depressed, you lose interest in things you used to like, even if one of those things had been religion.

@jmallory - And once again you've made your case for being awesome. Bravo, good sir!

"If religious faith causes suicide why is it that atheists are far more suicidal that those of faith?"

@Composing_Life - sorry to burst your theory, but i'm agnostic by circumstance... not choice.  if God wants me to believe in Him, i'm sure He's very capable of convincing me.  until He does, i'm agnostic by default. 

also, if i may say so... this post comes across as very inhumane.  you almost sound like you rejoice in non-Christians killing themselves, because it proves your point.  i would imagine that the "Christian thing to do" would be to stress that suicide among ANY group for ANY reason is not a good thing in God's eyes.  from what i can see, the only decent Christian who has commented here is @jmallory - 

@GodlessLiberal - Gays are a most talented and wealthy demographic. Everybody gets bullied. The most effective course of action is to quit whining and go to work. 

That's what the gay community has done, by and large. So have blacks, Hispanics and women.

But instead of recognizing these monumental accomplishments, people like you try to make yourselves feel important and righteous by dividing instead of uniting people, opening and infecting wounds instead of healing them.

You should join your fellow malcontent atheist buddies, Mathematicalbagpiper, Zerowing22 and Da__Vinci and get your hateful self off of Xanga.

@flapper_femme_fatale - If you don't believe in God how can something that doesn't exist convince you of anything?

You first have to come to the reasonable conclusion that God exists and then you believe in him. 

Did your dog come up to you one day and tell you he existed?

You believe your dog exists because you came to the reasonable conclusion that he exists, not because the dog convinced you of anything.

@flapper_femme_fatale - Who are you, a non-Christian, to judge among Christians and determine who among them is best?

@Composing_Life - If you care about your beliefs being true, then you cannot just "choose" them based on convenience or desire. You have to try to objectively follow the evidence wherever it leads.My atheism has nothing to do with whether i want there to be a God, whether it'd make me happy, or whether it'd make me less likely to commit suicide. I give those things no relevance since whether or not a belief is desirable or beneficial has no relevance to whether or not it's true, and because the truth matters to me.