Letters: Tragedy of suicide

SUICIDES, of which we’ve seen several examples lately, are tragic events. A life wasted and trauma for the families. Yet it is even more tragic that people should take their lives in the mistaken belief that they will survive death and live forever in some ethereal realm.

A notable example was Theresa Riggi’s murder of her three children and her subsequent attempt to take her own life. As a devout Catholic she thought that she and her children would escape the misery she suffered to live in peace with her god.

Now another woman with Catholic associations has killed her child and taken her life (your report, 1 March).

This phenomenon is not confined to Catholics. In 1978, many members of an American evangelical sect committed mass suicide in Guyana and in 1997, 39 members of an American pseudo-Christian cult committed suicide in the belief that they would go to a “higher plane” on a spacecraft hiding behind comet Hale-Bopp, then visible in the night sky.

Nor is it confined to Christianity; Muslim suicide bombers evidently believe that they will go to a better place after death.

I blame all religions that encourage belief in an afterlife. From experience, I know that this delusion not only destroys lives but leads many to live a distracted life merely as a preparation for something better.

However, despite spurious claims, there is no afterlife: it is not possible for consciousness to survive without the functioning brain. This is the only life we have and we need to make the most of it both for ourselves and humanity.

Steuart Campbell

Dovecot Loan

Edinburgh

Neil Sinclair (Letters, 1 March) suggests American forces be issued with a laminated card bearing the text: “Do not burn copies of the Koran.”

I also suggest that the local Afghan populace be issued with a card: “Do not become a murderous mob when copies of the Koran are destroyed. Instead, defend your Holy Book by reasoning and argument.”

Richard Lucas

Broomyknowe

Edinburgh

In response to Ellis Thorpe’s point about Christianity and other religions “hedging the finite against the infinite”, there’s surely a more fundamental point about the existence, or not, of a divine creator.

I assume no-one, whether atheist or not, would claim that the universe is the cause of itself. If they did use the argument that the universe had always existed, they would surely be arguing that the universe is different from all other phenomena we know, in that it has the power of being the one thing that is the cause of everything else.

I have lots of atheist friends, but none of them has ever been able to give me a satisfactory answer on that one. If the universe resulted from a “big bang” what caused it? No wonder so many astro-physicists are religious believers – it’s less intellectually frustrating to assume there is something beyond mind or matter, which we might ultimately understand when we have left the limits of the physical universe.

The Psalms put it more simply: “It is He that hath made us, not we ourselves.”

However, the main point I was trying to make is that these are the interesting and creative discussions about religion which can develop fruitful dialogue between believers and those of no belief. It seems to me that it’s when Christians mix up theology with theocracy that the problems start.

In his early controversial book, Godless Morality, Richard Holloway, whether he is a believer or not, made the important point that rules for human conduct have a complex origin, are dynamic in that they change over time, and are not simply the once and for all instructions of a heavenly dictator.

Most people of goodwill, whether they define themselves as religious or not, would agree with him.

(Dr) Mary Brown

Dalvenie Road

Banchory