Good Lord,
Whatever happened to prayer, meditation, submission to the Lord, in God we trust, Ye shall be saved--may be the guys, after all the thundering from the pulpit, the fuss and the melodrama realize there is no God after all, that their whole lives have been lies, that the hoarseness of voice they took home everyday was not a fulfillment of their life time dreams--they then feel shattered-no light at the end of the tunnel . They want to throw in the towel and escape to the Kingdom of Robert Littel but it is too late--they are in too deep--the pulpit awaiteth for one more sermon, the parishioners claw and cling cloyingly. No escape except to the land of blighted souls. Ah, God believers, this tragic one third of Christian ministers committing suicide statistic, is disturbing on many levels. What is happening here? Is God no company, no comfort, no friend in need to these ministers? Isn't God supposed to be the antidote to depression; a sort of a built in euphoria that bubbles forth during rough times?
Ravensfan Anon

I am sorry folks--one third of the clergy committing suicide--that's wrong--my mistake--one fourth depressed among the clergy--that's the statistic--still staggering and the glib explanation by Fred Smoot does not wash. Notice how God does not even enter this conversation about clergy suicide and depression. Spirituality, isn't it the uplifter of all mankind? "Aren't these members of the clergy human and therefore vulnerable?" the religious will quibble. I reply, "Belief in God seems to insulate man from nothing. Forget about the hereafter. Right here, things seem to tank as often as they do for the atheists, for the God believers.
Ravensfan Anon

Like I said in another post, satan loves to find fault with Christians, and stories like this are no exception. If some pastors have committed suicide, it is because they werent close enough to the Lord. It isnt the fault of the Christian culture, unless we are talking about the sins of Christians, which arent any different than the sins of anyone else. Early Christians were fed to the lions, but they didnt commit suicide. They were stoned and beaten and their faith in the Lord and the afterlife kept them going. Pastors are no different than any other Christian in this sense. Yahoo is liberal and they have a blast with stories like Rush Limbaugh being fooled by some document, and the liberal press likes stories like this one. But give them a story about Nancy Pelosi having stomach gas and they dont want to touch it. I am glad to say that neither does the Christian press. Thanks.

Anon - I wasn't aware that a college professor saying "it's likely" made it a fact. It would appear you are willing to take his word on faith? It’s unfortunate you feel the need to use a tragedy of a suicide to mock others.
ravensfan.

Ah Ravensfan--not mocking--just remarking. Don't go back to your high horse sanctimony--you seem to vacillate between that and humor--you are humorous, I have concluded--that comment on my soul potentially costing you too much if you set about trying to redeem it from the abyss to which it is headed-- that was tongue in cheek--but this Ravensfan is a piece of foolishness. I do believe all the spiritual ecstasy that the religious show off as being their province is an illusion to fool the non believers-- even as folks at the very top of the religious food chain are jumping into the hopeless pit of suicide, with no one within their churches or communities recognizing their plight, prior to their suicidal acts, what am I, an atheist, to think Ravensfan--that all is well in the religious world? The suicides and the despondency are signs that religion is a colossal failure as an answer to what plagues the human condition.
Ravensfan Anon

Anon – I’ll take your word that you did not intend the remarks to be mocking However, for someone who makes so much noise about illusions you were quite ready to buy into the unsubstantiated one of a college professor with the same zeal you give Christians a hard time about having. You are certainly entitled to believe what you want. The fact remains that nothing in the article or any responses so far lends any support to Professor Stanford’s opinion. What makes my comments foolishness Anon? Did I miss something? Was there some objective study quoted I missed to support Professor Stanford’s comments? In the end all that was reported was four clergy suicides in the Carolinas in four years. I wonder how many atheist, or social worker or doctor suicides occurred in the same time span in the same place? Isn’t it rather odd that no other information to benchmark the suicides were given? It sounds more like a fishing expedition to find data to support an idea, someone wanted to promote and you bought into it because of your atheism. If I’m wrong Anon prove it. I’ll be acknowledge it’s a problem and advocate Churches need to focus more on the issue.
ravensfan

Clay, Tell us more about this satan god of yours. It must be a fairly powerful god to still be around despite your main god's war against it, or is that god so impotent is can't lift that rock?

Wow, but there is a cure... and we should concentrate on spreading that instead of judgment and watching in silence. Suicide has touched my social circle too many times to count, and we live in dispairaging times... the only hope is for those who have a foundation of faith, is to hang onto that, or seek it out- rightly.