Book promoting atheism linked to suicide

I wonder what was going on in this guy's mind. Clearly his faith had been challenged but should that be the cause for suicide?

Wow, one would think that...he/she could not be so easily swayed.

Thanks to World Nut Daily for this expose of nonsense.

It is understandable that a parent should seek outside the family circle and circumstances for a reason for the suicide of a child - it allows the parent to avoid seeking in the right places for answers that might hurt.

Ugh, please don't post "articles" from the World Net Daily. The site has a legendary reputation for lies and one-sided reporting.

Obviously too few details to make any meaningful judgment, but I can't help thinking of Mark Twain's story "The Man That Corrupted Hadleyberg." The citizens of Hadleyberg determine that they will create a perfect community by guarding themselves from any possible temptation. No temptation, no sin, they reason. The result is predictable. The first temptation that gets through causes everyone it touches to succumb. As a consequence, they wise up and change the town motto to "Lead us *into* temptation."

Long preamble, but the truly shocking issue is not that the guy was so shaken by Dawson's arguments but that apparently nothing in his previous education and experience had prepared him to confront such arguments in a mature and rational way. (Mature at a level appropriate to his age, of course.) And, no, I'm not blaming the victim, the boy's father. I'm just saying that the problem is not Dawkins's book but, once again, the entire set of circumstances that left the boy so vulnerable and unprepared to deal with the book.

Is that really a serious question? You might as well ask- should we stop telling the truth because it's painful?

Of course the book didn't make him kill himself. Teenage suicide is caused by hormone changes that affect mood.
You could say the book was the catalyst. But that doesn't mean the author is responsible in any way.

I bet the author is happy- free publicity.

It's so amazing how parents will blame anyone but themselves for the suicide of there child.

No, it can not. Ridiculous claim. The story reminded me of every fear tactic that raving preachers claim is going to happen in a secular society. He had no reason to live, saw no difference between right and wrong.

Utterly absurd.

Scapegoating at its finest.

P.S. the WorldNetDaily is a socially conservative news and opinion site, that mainly focuses on evangelical topics. In the past, their journalists have been the focus of many controversial reporting. Therefore, I wouldn't take anything reported on that site as very factual or objective.

In atheism there is no afterlife, so thus, suicide would be prevented with atheism. The father thought that atheists are evil pig-dogs, obviously.

I sure there were other prominent problems going on in his life, hell just the other day it was anonymous idiots on the internet promoting suicide.
Are we really that desensitized?

I can understand where he is coming from, and its very sad. Obviously the book cant be blamed for the suicide, but the fact of the matter is that when he realized the truth, it was so challenging to everything he had ever learned that he stopped believing in anything. The same thing has recently happened to me. The truth is a difficult thing to confront when you have been fed lies for so long.

The father can rest easily now that he can blame someone other than himself.

The only way people would commit suicide after learning that there is no god is if they thought that they them self were god.

The same world still exists.

Always pointing fingers. If we are going to attack atheism lets also attack religion......lets say Dawkins book did cause this kid to kill himself....lets compare that to what "holy" books have caused other people to do.......war, murder, polygamy, rape, slavery, imperialism, incest, beastiality, war, jihad, and yes, suicide also. So as far as I see it, atheism has a better track record.

I attended a small college located in a highly religious and Conservative region of my state. On the first day of philosophy class the instructor said that as a part of his teaching methods he would be challenging some of our most basic assumptions about such things as the existence of God. Half of the class stood up and walked out the door. One has to wonder, if people's beliefs can not withstand exposure to the clean air of scientific scrutiny, how supportable can they be? I am sorry for this boy but I would be more sorry if the author had not the courage to express his unpopular views.

The first line of the article said the boy was "a military veteran" did the father think about that having anything to do with it?

i would not be surprised if having extremely religious parents can increase the amount of suicides of their children .. and if not .. we could certainly make a "link"

yeah? how many people have killed themselves over their fear of not 'doing right in the eyes of god'?

It's not going to be a book that makes one kill themselves, nor a song nor a classroom or teacher. The book itself was not in the curriculum and as a grown man he chose to go to the library, check it out, and then read it. Dawkins book in no way suggests that anyone hurt themselves. When someone takes their own life, there is something going on in their mind, either a chemical imbalanced depression or something in their life such as a relationship being broken or feeling like an outsider. From what one of the relatives said, he had a difficult time expressing his new perspectives. I think we need to be supportive of those we love even if they believe differently than we do. The relative also said that he thought murder was not wrong, to me this sounds like indeed there may be some deeper problem in the brain. It is not going to be atheism or a religion that causes a suicide, unless there is something else already wrong with the person. We need to try and find the real problem so that we can be sure that we do not have another situation such as this. I am so very sorry for this young man and his family - my heart breaks for them.

i do agree that it was many factors.. but in no way did just the book cause this.

and it does seem like the father wants to rest the blame elsewhere..
and. Becasue of his young age.. i think that he had a tour of duty in Irag. he might have been suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
and.
Im loving these ads on the website.. very biased.. Like the story!!