Xian Suicides:

[DeistPaladin]

So, I am wondering if this is a trend. Has anyone else known Xer suicides (or other faiths) and by that I do not mean Xers who kill themselves because of other reasons, but because their faith drove them to it.

I'm very sorry to hear of your loss.

By "Xer", I assume you mean Christian (X being Christ)?

I've managed to somehow avoid making too many religious friends, even here in a "red State" part of America. The ones I've known do seem less happy and more unstable. Whether this is because unhappy, unstable people are attracted to religion or if religion makes them less happy or unstable, I'm not completely sure. I lean toward the latter conclusion.

I did have one friend from college who was devoutly religious. He was educated and knew all the same things I knew about the Bible, yet clung to his faith because it "provided him comfort". In retrospect, he was always immature, probably stemming from being abandoned by his parents and raised by grandparents. Jesus was probably a substitute father and his beliefs enabled him to avoid taking any responsibility for his life. I watched him deteriorate over the years. I tried to offer him advice but he'd never listen (disclosure: I admit here that I'm a recovering rescue-holic). Eventually, he fell into what seemed to me to be a severe case of narcissistic personality disorder.

Did his faith contribute to his spiritual (I use the term with irony) downfall? Was it part of his downward spiral?

I can also say the most emotionally stable, mature, happy and trustworthy friends I have are atheists or other freethinkers.