Health

Religious Worshippers Less Likely to Commit Suicide

by Terri Potratz | January 16, 2009 at 10:03 am

218 views | 4 Recommendations | 4 comments

People who attend regular religious services are less likely to commit suicide than those who don't, according to a study out of the University of Manitoba. 37,000 Canadians were queried by the researchers, who found that those who didn't worship on a regular basis were twice as likely to off themselves.

People who attended religious services were less likely to have attempted suicide or had suicidal thoughts in the past year than those who did not, Rasic said. The same was true for people with a history of depression or anxiety disorders.

"Those people who attended church at least once a year had decreased rates of suicidal attempts," said Rasic, now a resident at Dalhousie University in Halifax. "Those who don't are twice as likely to have attempted suicide."

Respondents who identified themselves simply as "spiritual" and didn't adhere to an organized religion had the same rate of attempted suicide as non-believers, he added.

It is suspected that while attending religious services keeps people connected to community, family and support networks, another primary cause behind this finding is likely the fact that suicide is a forbidden act according to most major religions.

This is believed to be the first study to use Canada-wide data to examine the relationship between faith and the likelihood to commit suicide.

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Samir D

at 22:43 on January 16th, 2009

"Makar sankratni", is a famous Hindu festival which is marked by a holy deep in river Ganges.. At the mid of January, thousands of pilgrimages from various places of India has come Kolkata to have a splash in Ganges... This woman after having a bath in Babughat, a popular place for pilgrims, is worships her lord.....

Samir D has contributed a photo to this story.

kaosutzeng

at 01:00 on January 17th, 2009

In taiwan, Guanyin is the god who feels the miseries of the mankind and gives people hope to weather the storm

kaosutzeng has contributed a photo to this story.

lefty_liberated

at 04:04 on January 17th, 2009

Offers everyone a round of kool-aid...

aloha_karina

at 05:22 on January 17th, 2009

This is a special moment I am to get married and this is from a Church in Sheshemane Ethiopia. Gospel Light Church. We are worshipping and God's presence are very strong upon us.

God touch me very deep in my heart, just to describe it is like a mother laying her hand on my heart.... but it felt all over my body. It was so lovely and it is hard to describe with words...

You probably don't feel this if you didn't give your life for Jesus.
He is the anserw in your life...

Before I give my life I felt alone and outside but after it was like a new world... Accept and experiance it yourself..... :)

The whole day it was song,dans, klapping, smile..... A LOT OF JOY

GOD IS GOOD ALL THE TIME.

aloha_karina has contributed a photo to this story.