Tuesday, August 30, 2016

Study: Those Who Attend Church Have Lower Suicide Rates, Especially Catholics

According to a study by JAMA Psychiatry, people who attend religious services had the lowest rates of suicide. This was especially true for Catholics.  The study is entitled: Association Between Religious Service Attendance and Lower Suicide Rates Among US Women.

It found that those who attended Church once a week ore more were less likely to commit suicide. The years of the study took place from 1996 and 2010.  Over 80,000 subjects participated in the study and ranged from ages 30 to 55. Among them, only 36 committed suicide at some point.  It is interesting to note that none of those who committed suicide were Catholic.

The study is interesting indeed in relation to the high suicide rates of atheists. Atheists often claim that they are happy or "good without God," yet, atheism has one of the highest rates of suicide. Many factors come into place as to why religious people, especially Catholics have lower suicide rates. Their faith in God is one as well as the teachings of the Catholic Church regarding mortal sin and the loss of the soul in hell. In any event, this study provides strong evidence that religion helps people, not only spiritually, but also psychologically. A previous study in 2008 showed that religious countries have lower suicide rates as well.

Religion provides hope to people based on the power of faith, prayer and a hope for an afterlife. Atheism fails in this regard. Its materialistic philosophies force the atheist to dwell solely on the earthly. Things on earth are not always easy. This stress and the realization for the atheist that there is no God or afterlife brings added stress and anxiety.  If there is no God or afterlife, then what is the point of existing on a rocky planet only to die and dissolve into nothingness? This existential view deprives the atheist of hope.  He or she becomes despondent and resorts to suicide in order to escape the stresses of life.     











Source:

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/fullarticle/2529152

http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-church-attendance-suicide-20160629-snap-story.html

https://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/doi/10.1176/appi.ajp.161.12.2303

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/atheism-has-a-suicide-problem_us_5a2a902ee4b022ec613b812b

http://www.thethinkingatheist.com/forum/Thread-Why-Do-Atheists-Have-the-Highest-Suicide-Rates

http://news.gallup.com/poll/108625/more-religious-countries-lower-suicide-rates.aspx

https://www.rallypoint.com/shared-links/why-do-atheists-have-the-highest-suicide-rates

https://www.slideshare.net/REYNAASADIZOUDEGANIL/religion-suicide-48725862

No comments:

Post a Comment

Thank you for reading and for your comment. All comments are subject to approval. They must be free of vulgarity, ad hominem and must be relevant to the blog posting subject matter.

Labels

Catholic Church (742) God (399) Atheism (340) Jesus (327) Bible (299) Jesus Christ (275) Pope Francis (228) Atheist (226) Liturgy of the Word (192) Science (151) LGBT (145) Christianity (135) Pope Benedict XVI (79) Rosa Rubicondior (79) Gay (77) Abortion (75) Prayer (65) President Obama (57) Physics (53) Philosophy (52) Liturgy (50) Vatican (50) Christian (49) Blessed Virgin Mary (43) Christmas (43) Psychology (40) New York City (39) Holy Eucharist (35) Politics (34) Women (34) Biology (30) Supreme Court (30) Baseball (29) Religious Freedom (27) NYPD (26) Traditionalists (24) priests (24) Space (23) Pope John Paul II (22) Evil (20) Health (20) Racism (20) First Amendment (19) Pro Abortion (19) Protestant (19) Christ (18) Theology (18) Child Abuse (17) Evangelization (17) Illegal Immigrants (17) Pro Choice (17) Apologetics (16) Astrophysics (16) Death (16) Donald Trump (16) Police (16) Priesthood (16) Pedophilia (15) Marriage (14) Vatican II (14) Blog (11) Divine Mercy (11) Autism (10) Gospel (10) Jewish (10) Morality (10) Muslims (10) Poverty (10) September 11 (10) Eucharist (9) academia (9) Easter Sunday (8) Gender Theory (8) Human Rights (8) Pentecostals (8) Personhood (8) Sacraments (8) Big Bang Theory (7) CUNY (7) Cognitive Psychology (7) Condoms (7) David Viviano (7) Ellif_dwulfe (7) Evidence (7) Barack Obama (6) Hell (6) Hispanics (6) Holy Trinity (6) Humanism (6) NY Yankees (6) Spiritual Life (6) Babies (5) Cyber Bullying (5) Massimo Pigliucci (5) Podcast (5) Pope Pius XII (5) The Walking Dead (5) Angels (4) Donations (4) Ephebophilia (4) Gender Dysphoria Disorder (4) Pope Paul VI (4) Catholic Bloggers (3) Death penalty (3) Evangelicals (3) Pluto (3) Pope John XXIII (3) Baby Jesus (2) Dan Arel (2) Eastern Orthodox (2) Encyclical (2) Founding Fathers (2) Freeatheism (2) Oxfam (2) Penn Jillette (2) Pew Research Center (2) Plenary Indulgence (2) Cursillo (1) Dan Savage (1) Divine Providence (1) Fear The Walking Dead (1) Pentecostales (1)