7th grader commits suicide after being told that he is going to Hell.

[Jehanne]

7th grader dies by suicide after classmates told him he’d go to Hell for being gay

[Anomalocaris]

yea the silver lining is he evidently didn’t believe hell awaited him for being gay.    Or else he found hell preferable to living in a world with too many unmitigated christians.

[Jehanne]

Religious faith does do harm. And, yes, I am stating the obvious here; in any case, religious belief needs to go.

[Belacqua]

Every year the US has over 47,000 deaths counted as suicide. The number has been going down slightly among white people, but is going up among some minorities.

I'm sure this number is undercounted. There must be many many people who commit a sort of "passive suicide" by giving up on life. They stop taking their medicine and sit on the couch and watch TV and have no hope. Or they overdose on recreational drugs because they just don't care. Or they drive recklessly because they have no reason to live.

When we speak to another person we don't know really well, we have no idea what that person is going through. They may be on the edge. This is especially true of people on the Internet.

We can always find a reason to judge someone harshly and tell them they're bad. But anyone who utters a word or types a sentence with the intention of making someone else feel bad is a part of the problem.

[Jehanne]

We can always find a reason to judge someone harshly and tell them they're bad. But anyone who utters a word or types a sentence with the intention of making someone else feel bad is a part of the problem.

With respect to this situation, Professor Steven Weinberg was correct, "With or without religion, good people can behave well and bad people can do evil; but for good people to do evil - that takes religion."

[Oldandeasilyconfused]

Back in 1970, a 19 year old kid at work killed himself. He drove his car to a National Park and took a hose ,attached it to the exhaust then into the car. I didn't really know him. He was younger than I and worked in a different section on a different floor. Yet I still felt I should have helped him in some way. His close work friends were devastated.

I can't imagine what his family must have gone through, for years.

Now, the gut wrenching tragedy of a 12 year old old killing himself. A child who could not fully understand the consequences of his actions. All he would have known is deep anguish which he didn't know how to escape. Nor could his age mates understand what they had done to him. They too will suffer guilt for many years.

This is heart breaking. Don't know what else to say

[Jehanne]

This is heart breaking. Don't know what else to say

The young man in question killed himself because Christians were taunting him with their nutty beliefs.

[Ferrocyanide]

Probably his classmates are not aware that such bullying can lead to depression or suicide.
The kids were programmed by their parents to be christian and that homosexuality is a sin.
Even if the person does not commit suicide, probably his grades will be effected, probably his future will receive the consequences.
It’s a kind of murder that is legal.
In case the person stays alive and it just ruins his life, it is the kind of crime that is legal.

The parents chose that religion and decided to stay in it while knowing what that religion preaches: hate.
They probably go around telling people that Jesus preaches love.

I think it was recently that in Canada that bullying is being addressed.

Source:
http://education-expert.com/2013/10/bull...-standard/

In Canada, each province has passed laws that, in varying degrees, address bullying in public and Catholic schools. Perhaps the best example of protective legislation is Ontario’s Accepting Schools Act, passed in 2012, which was developed in response to several suicides of bullied students. The act defines bullying behavior as including psychological, social or academic harm and harm to an individual’s reputation.
-----------------------

Also, there was a case where the student talked about it to his/her parents and the parents talking about it with the principal. It was basically ignored. The family moved and sent the kid to a different school. The bullies found out where he/she lived....

These principals and teachers are sleeping at the wheel. The christians are more concerned about saving their own souls and less concerned about saving the life of a 12 y old gay.

[Oldandeasilyconfused]

This is heart breaking. Don't know what else to say

The young man in question killed himself because Christians were taunting him with their nutty beliefs.

 I don't know that for a fact. Neither does anyone  else truly know what he was thinking or feeling. I believe he must have been feeling deep anguish.

Now, after the event, I'm more concerned with the what than the why.   I have no idea about what can be done to prevent children from killing themselves. 

In the US, suicide was the second leading cause of the deaths of children between 10 to 24 years.

Explore Teen Suicide in the United States | 2021 Health of Women And Children Report | AHR (americashealthrankings.org)

((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((9))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

A little while ago I watched a clip on Youtube with teens being sentenced as adults in the US. There was a 14 year old sentenced to life without the possibility of parole, for murder.  Also a 17 year old sentenced to a juvenile facility until he was 21. He will then be transferred to an adult prison to serve the rest of his sentence  of 25 years to life.

I'm not being snitty, truly I'm not.  This also breaks my heart. Can some one help me understand the logic of children being tried as adults? As an outsider, it seems vengeful, capricious and quite unjust. I also think there's a valid argument that such treatment is unconstitutional  under the Eighth Amendment because it is cruel and unusual punishment.


I'm aware this argument has been tried and rejected ,so I'm none the wiser:

In Solem v. Helm, 463 U.S. 277 (1983), the Supreme Court held that a sentence may not be disproportionate to the crime committed, regardless of whether the crime is a felony or a misdemeanor. To measure proportionality, the court must look at several factors. These factors include the severity of the offense, the harshness of the penalty, the sentences imposed on others within the same jurisdiction, and the sentences imposed on others in different jurisdictions.

The Supreme Court later overturned this prohibition on disproportionate sentences in Harmelin v. Michigan, 501 U.S. 957 (1991), but stated, in dicta, that in extreme cases, a disproportionate sentence could violate the Eighth Amendment. This opinion was later affirmed in , 538 U.S. 63 (2003), holding that a gross proportionality requirement is only available in “exceedingly rare” and “extreme cases.”

Cruel and Unusual Punishment | Wex | US Law | LII / Legal Information Institute (cornell.edu)

[Ferrocyanide]

I don't know that for a fact. Neither does anyone  else truly know what he was thinking or feeling. I believe he must have been feeling deep anguish.

That’s true. To judge each individual case, there needs to be evidence.
One form of evidence is statistics. It gives us a look at the overall picture.

Let me see what else there is about homosexuality:
Source:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homosexuality
Since the end of the 19th century, there has been a global movement towards increased visibility, recognition, and legal rights for gay people, including the rights to marriage and civil unions, adoption and parenting, employment, military service, equal access to health care, and the introduction of anti-bullying legislation to protect gay minors.

^^^^^The text mentions
anti-bullying legislation to protect gay minors
so, this means that there is a specific need for homosexuals.



There is also:
"President Bill Clinton's Executive Order 13087 (1998) prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation in the competitive service of the federal civilian workforce"

^^^^^In this case, the federal government got involved.


"In the United States, 45 states and the District of Columbia have statutes criminalizing various types of bias-motivated violence or intimidation. 32 of them cover sexual orientation, 28 cover gender, and 11 cover TRANSGENDER/GENDER-IDENTITY."

^^^^^In this case, the federal government got involved. It looks like sexual orientation is a BIG ISSUE for christian society.


Source:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homosexuality
There is a graph. It is titled:2013 Pew Global Research Poll.
For Canada, the acceptance percentage is 71 to 80%.
For USA, the acceptance percentage is 51 to 60%.
For Mexico, the acceptance percentage is 61 to 70%.

^^^^^The one for USA is low, so I would expect more homosexuals (adults and kids) to be depressed, feel hopeless, lack friends, lose family members in that region.