Christian views on suicide

Suicide was common before Christianity, in the form of personal suicide, to avoid shame or suffering, and also in the form of institutional suicide, such as the intentional deaths of a king's servants, the forced deaths of convicted criminals, the willing suicides of widows, and euthanasia for the elderly and infirm. The Donatists, an early Christian sect, contained a fanatical group named the Circumcellions who would attack strangers on the street and attain supposed martyrdom.{{Cite web|url=https://knowledgenuts.com/2014/03/26/the-ancient-christian-cult-of-suicidal-daredevil-martyrs/|title=The Ancient Christian Cult Of Suicidal, Daredevil Martyrs|date=March 26, 2014}} Early Christianity established a ban on suicide, greatly reducing its occurrence.

In the fifth century, Augustine wrote The City of God, in it making Christianity's first overall condemnation of suicide. His biblical justification for this was the interpretation of the commandment, "Thou shalt not kill", as he sees the omission of "thy neighbor", which is included in "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor", to mean that the killing of oneself is not allowed either.http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/suicide/#ChrPro Michael Cholbi in Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy article on Suicide, section 2.2 The Christian Prohibition The rest of his reasons were from Plato's Phaedo.

In the sixth century AD, suicide became a secular crime and began to be viewed as sinful. In the 13th century, Thomas Aquinas denounced suicide as an act against God and as a sin for which one could not repent. In 1533, those who died by suicide while accused of a crime were denied a Christian burial. In 1562, all suicides were punished in this way. In 1693, even attempted suicide became an ecclesiastical crime, which could be punished by excommunication, with civil consequences following. Civil and criminal laws were enacted to discourage suicide, and as well as degrading the body rather than permitting a normal burial, the property and possessions of both the person who died by suicide and of their family were confiscated.{{cite web |url=http://pipsproject.com/Understanding%20Suicide.html |website=Pips Project |title=The stigma of suicide: A history |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070317103747/http://pipsproject.com/Understanding%20Suicide.html |archive-date=March 17, 2007 }}{{Cite web|url=http://elsinore.ucsc.edu/burial/burialSuicide.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060904034202/http://elsinore.ucsc.edu/burial/burialSuicide.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=September 4, 2006|title=Ophelia's Burial|website=elsinore.ucsc.edu}}

{{Bibleverse|Psalm|139:8|NRSV}}—"If I ascend to heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there."—has often been discussed in the context of the fate of those who die by suicide.{{cite book |last=Dowie |first=J. A. |title=Leaves of Healing |publisher=Zion Publishing House |volume=v. 11 |year=1902 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PHZPAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA702 |page=702}}{{cite book |last=Clemons |first=J. T. |title=Perspectives on Suicide |publisher=Westminster John Knox Press |year=1990 |isbn=978-0-664-25085-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=14jaAAAAMAAJ |page=55}} The Waldensian Evangelical Church has taken a favorable stance on assisted suicide.{{cite web | title=Pope won't throw in the towel on Italy's plucky Protestant outpost | website=Crux | date=2019-08-27 | url=https://cruxnow.com/news-analysis/2019/08/pope-wont-throw-in-the-towel-on-italys-plucky-protestant-outpost | access-date=2023-05-10}}

{{See also|Declaration on Euthanasia}}

According to the theology of the Catholic Church, death by suicide is a grave matter. The Church holds that one's life is the property of God, and to destroy that life is wrongly to assert dominion over God's creation, or to attack God remotely. In the past, the Catholic Church would not conduct funeral services for persons who killed themselves, and they could not be buried in a Catholic cemetery.{{cite book |title=Religion, Deviance, and Social Control |page=12 |last1=Stark |first1=Rodney |last2=Bainbridge |first2=William Sims |date=2013 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781135771591}} However, the church lifted the prohibition on funerals for suicide victims in the 1980s.{{cite journal |last1=Dine |first1=Ranana Leigh |date=26 July 2019 |title=You shall bury him: burial, suicide and the development of Catholic law and theology |journal=Medical Humanities |volume=46 |issue=3 |pages=299–310 |doi=10.1136/medhum-2018-011622 |pmid=31350305 |s2cid=198933941}}

In 1992, Pope John Paul II promulgated the new Catechism of the Catholic Church, which acknowledged the role that mental illnesses may play in suicide. In practice, however, as recently as 2018 there were those who held by the old dictum.{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2018/12/15/father-please-stop-parents-horrified-after-priest-used-teens-funeral-condemn-suicide/?noredirect=on |title='Father, please stop': Parents horrified after priest used teen's funeral to condemn suicide |last=Mettler |first=Katie |date=14 December 2018 |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=22 January 2021 |quote=}} Regarding the effect of psychological disorders on a person's culpability, the Catechism states that:

{{Quote|text=Grave psychological disturbances, anguish, or grave fear of hardship, suffering, or torture can diminish the responsibility of the one committing suicide.{{Cite CCC|2.1|2282}}}}

Despite the fact that historical Catholic doctrine—as seen in the Baltimore Catechism used in the United States from 1885 until the 1960s{{cite news |url=https://www.post-gazette.com/news/faith-religion/2019/06/10/roman-catholic-suicide-attitude-changing-lifeline-listening-friends-support-sacred-heart/stories/201906090100 |title=Catholic community focuses on compassion rather than condemnation of suicide |last=Cho |first=Serena |date=10 June 2019 |newspaper=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |access-date=23 January 2021 |quote=}}—generally considered suicide to be a mortal sin, the Catholic Church rejected this conclusion with the introduction in 1992 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church,{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/16/us/maison-hullibarger-suicide-funeral.html |title=Priest Pulled From Funerals After Repeatedly Citing Teenager's Suicide in 'Pastoral Disaster' |last1=Zaveri |first1=Mihir |last2=Fortin |first2=Jacey |date=16 December 2018 |newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=23 January 2021 |quote=}} which declares:

{{Quote|text=We should not despair of the eternal salvation of persons who have taken their own lives. By ways known to him alone, God can provide the opportunity for salutary repentance. The Church prays for persons who have taken their own lives.{{Cite CCC|2.1|2283}}}}

The Catholic Church defines suicide very narrowly to avoid the extrapolation that Jesus's death was a type of suicide, brought about by his own choices, and to avoid the idea that Catholic martyrs choosing death is a valid form of suicide. Instead, Catholics give praise that Jesus resisted suicide throughout his trials, demonstrating that no degradation is so great that suicide can be justified. Martyrs are honored for the same reason.{{cite book |title=Breaking the Thread of Life: On Rational Suicide |last=Barry |first=Robert |pages=20–22, 190 |date=2017 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781351530798}}

{{main|Views on suicide in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints}}

In the largest denomination of Mormonism the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), teachings on suicide have spanned over a century, with leaders teaching that suicide is against the will of God, though, Church teachings on suicide have changed through the years.{{cite news |last1=Christiansen |first1=Barbara |title=Church teachings on suicide have changed through the years |url=https://www.heraldextra.com/news/2015/sep/20/church-teachings-on-suicide-have-changed-through-the-years/ |work=Daily Herald |date=20 Sep 2015}} The LDS Church opposes physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia.{{cite web |title=Religious Groups' Views on End-of-Life Issues |date=21 November 2013 |url=https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2013/11/21/religious-groups-views-on-end-of-life-issues/ |publisher=Pew Research Center |access-date=21 Nov 2013}}

With the growing rate of suicides worldwide,{{cite web | title=Suicide | url=https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/suicide }} a number of Christian faith-based efforts have begun to address the needs of those in the church who have lost a loved one to suicide. Rick Warren, after the suicide of his son Matthew in 2013 following a lifelong struggle with mental illness, has become a prominent advocate for removing the stigma around suicide within the church and broader society.{{cite web | title=Rick Warren Says His Son's Suicide Compels Mental Health Ministry | url=http://www.personalgriefcoach.info/grief-after-suicide-blog/rick-warren-says-his-sons-suicide-compels-mental-health-ministry }}{{cite web | title=Rick Warren Gives First Sermon Since Son's Suicide | website=ABC News | url=https://abcnews.go.com/US/rick-warren-sermon-sons-suicide/story?id=19794215 }} Kayla Stoecklein, after the death of her husband Andrew, at the time pastor of Inland Hills Church (now Verve City Church){{cite web | title=Name change to Verve City Church signals new era | date=April 2023 | url=https://www.championnewspapers.com/news/article_a02ec98a-d004-11ed-b7fb-1325aa95bb52.html#:~:text=Inland%20Hills%20Church%2C%20founded%20in,increase%20in%20the%20church%27s%20attendance }} to suicide, wrote Fear Gone Wild, receiving international acclaim{{cite web | title=Book Review: Fear Gone Wild by Kayla Stoecklein | Others Magazine | url=https://others.org.au/reviews/book-review-fear-gone-wild-by-kayla-stoecklein/ }} for the memoir of her husband's stuggle.{{cite web | title=Kayla Stoecklein: Fear Gone Wild (LIFE Today) | website=YouTube | date=18 December 2020 | url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pnmr_nhyJE }} Terry A. Osborn, American academic, has also co-authored a book with his wife, for use in Christian faith-based support groups through the [https://suicideloss.org Christian Association for Survivors of Suicide Loss].https://suicideloss.org

• Jewish views on suicide
• Religious views on suicide
• Samaritans (charity)

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