Suicide and Unbelief

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More people, it seems, want to kill themselves.

While other causes of death in the U.S. are on the decline, the suicide rate has risen by a quarter, to 13 per 100,000 people in 2014 from 10.5 in 1999, according to an analysis by statistician Sally Curtin and her colleagues at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and reported recently by National Public Radio.

And it's rising for every age group under 75, she says.

"I've been losing sleep over this…," says Curtin. "You can't just say it's confined to one age group or another for males and females. Truly at all ages people are at risk for this, and our youngest have some of the highest percent increases."

And Curtin points out that in any given year, there are a lot more suicide attempts than there are suicide deaths. "The deaths are but the tip of the iceberg," she says.

What the Experts Say

Experts ascribe the increase to economic stagnation, which left more people out of jobs and probably made it harder for people to access health care and treatment. There was also a switch from the use of cocaine and crack to use of heroin and prescription painkillers, which can be lethal in case of an overdose.

Various other hypotheses are offered for the increase, but none seem adequate. One that goes unmentioned is a possible link between an increase in suicide, especially among young people, and the increased hopelessness that results from estrangement from faith and religion.

I’m not suggesting that atheism or agnosticism cause suicide, but I can’t help but wonder whether there’s a link between the increased suicide rate and reports that more young people are among the “nones,” those who when asked on questionnaires to identify their religion respond “none.”

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Say what you will about faith, it does provide a reason for living, so much so that one famous critic of religion, Karl Marx, fallaciously called it “the opium of the people.”

Young people have always challenged religion and faith, of course, and have often been disillusioned because of it. The 1970s song, “American Pie,” listed by one source as the number 5 “song of the century,” lamented the untimely death of rock-and-roller Buddy Holly and the general disappointment with the path of history after the optimism of the 1960s. 

That disappointment included an apparent loss of faith in God.

“And the three men I admire the most,
The Father, Son, and the Holy ghost
They caught the last train for the coast
The day the music died.“

Even though the NPR report made no mention of this, studies over the years have consistently found a link between religious practice and higher levels of happiness, as well as between lack of religious observance and suicide rates.

People who attend religious services, on average, generally exhibit much lower rates of suicide, says Religious Tolerance.org, a non-sectarian organization whose leaders include atheists and agnostics.

"Those who attend church frequently are four times less likely to commit suicide than those who never attend," they say. They add that the effect “is seen in various studies which compare church attendance and suicide rates.

Best Predictor

"In fact, the rate of church attendance predicts the suicide rate better than any other factor (including unemployment, traditionally regarded as the most powerful variable)."

Whether this relationship is a matter of cause and effect is unknown, however. Other influences, says Religious Tolerance.org – including the connection between lack of religious observance and depression, the rejection by many religions of homosexuality, and suicide victims’ lack of a support network – may be factors.

Despite the widespread disinterest in religion and faith, they have many seldom-acknowledged benefits that are worth considering by people searching for God. They require an acceptance of uncertainty, however.   

“Faith,” said Martin Luther King, “is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.”