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Old 02-26-2005, 03:46 PM   #32
richlevy
King Of Wishful Thinking
 
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Philadelphia Suburbs
Posts: 6,669
IMO, one of the reasons that religions had to make suicide a sin was because they pushed the concept of heaven so hard. They told a large group of people who in many case had really hard, crappy lives that if they did what they were told that they would live in paradise when they died. Well, if you're living in Europe in the dark ages and really believe this, then of course the ones who believed this would ask themselves "what am I waiting for". This means that the organized religion would lose it's most gullible....er....devout followers without any benefit to the organization. It's one thing to have someone martyr themselves or die as a soldier or suicide bomber for the organization, but plain suicide does not offer any benefits back to the group while causing attrition among the most ardent supporters. Hence, martyrdom is applauded and suicide becomes a sin.

Too cynical?
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