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adding some material regarding cowardice
===Atheism and Suicide===
===Atheism and Suicide===
[[Image:Desperation_man.jpg |thumb|right|200px|Pitzer College sociologist Phil Zuckerman stated concerning suicide rates: "this is the one indicator of societal health in which religious nations fare much better than secular nations."]]
[[Image:Desperation_man.jpg |thumb|right|200px|Pitzer College sociologist Phil Zuckerman stated concerning suicide rates: "this is the one indicator of societal health in which religious nations fare much better than secular nations."]]
Although [[Atheism and suicide|there are recent studies relating to atheism being a causal factor for suicide]], an early proponent of atheism being a causal factor for suicide was the Reverend Dr. Robert S. MacArthur.<ref>http://www.adherents.com/misc/religion_suicide.html</ref><ref>http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/abstract/161/12/2303</ref><ref>[http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9507E2DC1131E033A25754C1A96F9C94659ED7CF NY Times, September 17, 1894, ATHEISM A CAUSE OF SUICIDE.; Dr. MacArthur Preaches on the Sin and Cowardice of Self-Destruction]</ref> In 1894, the NY Times stated the following in relation to atheism and suicide:
Although [[Atheism and suicide|there are recent studies relating to atheism being a causal factor for suicide]], an early proponent of atheism being a causal factor for [[suicide]] was the Reverend Dr. Robert S. MacArthur.<ref>http://www.adherents.com/misc/religion_suicide.html</ref><ref>http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/abstract/161/12/2303</ref><ref>[http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9507E2DC1131E033A25754C1A96F9C94659ED7CF NY Times, September 17, 1894, ATHEISM A CAUSE OF SUICIDE.; Dr. MacArthur Preaches on the Sin and Cowardice of Self-Destruction]</ref> In 1894, the [[NY Times]] stated the following in relation to atheism and suicide:
{{cquote|Dr. Martin urged that a great cause of suicide was atheism. It was, he said, a remarkable fact that where atheism prevailed most, there suicides were most numerous. In [[Paris]], a recent census showed one suicide to every 2,700 of the population. After the publication of Paine's "Age of Reason" suicides increased.<ref>[http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9507E2DC1131E033A25754C1A96F9C94659ED7CF NY Times, September 17, 1894, ATHEISM A CAUSE OF SUICIDE.; Dr. MacArthur Preaches on the Sin and Cowardice of Self-Destruction]</ref>}}
{{cquote|Dr. Martin urged that a great cause of suicide was atheism. It was, he said, a remarkable fact that where atheism prevailed most, there suicides were most numerous. In [[Paris]], a recent census showed one suicide to every 2,700 of the population. After the publication of Paine's "Age of Reason" suicides increased.<ref>[http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9507E2DC1131E033A25754C1A96F9C94659ED7CF NY Times, September 17, 1894, ATHEISM A CAUSE OF SUICIDE.; Dr. MacArthur Preaches on the Sin and Cowardice of Self-Destruction]</ref>}}
"Concerning suicide rates, this is the one indicator of societal health in which religious nations fare much better than secular nations. According to the 2003 World Health Organization's report on international male suicides rates (which compared 100 countries), of the top ten nations with the highest male suicide rates, all but one (Sri Lanka) are strongly irreligious nations with high levels of atheism. It is interesting to note, however, that of the top remaining nine nations leading the world in male suicide rates, all are former Soviet/Communist nations, such as Belarus, Ukraine, and Latvia. Of the bottom ten nations with the lowest male suicide rates, all are highly religious nations with statistically insignificant levels of organic atheism."<ref>http://www.adherents.com/misc/religion_suicide.html</ref>}}
"Concerning suicide rates, this is the one indicator of societal health in which religious nations fare much better than secular nations. According to the 2003 World Health Organization's report on international male suicides rates (which compared 100 countries), of the top ten nations with the highest male suicide rates, all but one (Sri Lanka) are strongly irreligious nations with high levels of atheism. It is interesting to note, however, that of the top remaining nine nations leading the world in male suicide rates, all are former Soviet/Communist nations, such as Belarus, Ukraine, and Latvia. Of the bottom ten nations with the lowest male suicide rates, all are highly religious nations with statistically insignificant levels of organic atheism."<ref>http://www.adherents.com/misc/religion_suicide.html</ref>}}
The aforementioned NY Times article in which Dr. Robert S. MacArthur stated that atheism was a cause of atheism has Dr. Robert S. MacArthur stating the following suicide:
{{cquote|It is mean and not manly; it is dastardly and not daring. A man who involves his innocent wife and children in financial disaster and disgrace and takes his life and leaves them to bear the burden he was unwilling to bear, is a coward.<ref>[http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9507E2DC1131E033A25754C1A96F9C94659ED7CF NY Times, September 17, 1894, ATHEISM A CAUSE OF SUICIDE.; Dr. MacArthur Preaches on the Sin and Cowardice of Self-Destruction]</ref>}}
[[Australia]]n online opinion writer and lecturer in ethics and philosophy at several [[Melbourne]] [[theology|theological]] colleges, Bill Muehlenberg, in his essay ''The Unbearable Heaviness of Being (In a World Without God)'' states the following:
[[Australia]]n online opinion writer and lecturer in ethics and philosophy at several [[Melbourne]] [[theology|theological]] colleges, Bill Muehlenberg, in his essay ''The Unbearable Heaviness of Being (In a World Without God)'' states the following: