Atheists/Humanists/Secularists:What would you say to someone contemplating suicide who ....?

Please don't tell me what my world view is.

Well, I've yet to meet an atheist who thinks that, and I've never met a person who contemplates suicide over such ideas. After all, do you suppose your god, who has nobody else to give himself purpose, wants to end his own existence? Doesn't make a whole lot of sense, does it?

Which, if you knew anything about clinical depression, you would understand. It's way more complicated than you seem to imagine.

Nevertheless, if I found myself in such an impossible situation, I would release them to do as they best saw fit, while pointing out that, if there's anything or anyone they value, they can't care for that person/thing/ideal if they're dead. Whether or not that sways them isn't my call to make. We all face the choice to live or die every moment of the day, at least implicitly, and the choice of how to live can only be made after the decision to continue with existence is reached. I think the pros of life outweight the cons, but I recognize that not everybody would make the same evaluation. As such, although I always promote the choice to continue in life, I don't consider suicide to be a moral issue, nor do I believe I have the right to force my decision onto somebody else.

I am seemingly legally bound to try to talk them out of it. But, this being an anonymous forum, the truth is (IMHO) that life very often sucks. If you're contemplating suicide, maybe you should commit suicide. I know that's not a popular opinion but maybe it's the truth despite being unsuitable for a Disney movie. Furthermore, if I believed that there was a heaven to go to, I'd be pretty stoked to get there ASAP. Believing that this life is temporary (no afterlife) has actually helped me NOT commit suicide b/c I know that, in the grand scheme of things, I get to take an eternal dirt nap soon enough, so why rush it ?

Well, thank you for telling me what my world view is (you're utterly wrong in your assumption that all atheists/humanists/secularists believe we came from nowhere for no reason and with no purpose) but anyway, what would I say to them?

Depends on their reason for wanting to die, I guess. I believe in euthanasia and that it's an individual's choice, but I'd ask them to reconsider, try all I could to make them reconsider it. What I wouldn't do, would be to go "oooh! How dare you do that! Throwing God's gift back in his face! That'll get you sent to hell and no mistake."

But largely, I suppose, it comes down to their reason for contemplating suicide. If it's basically depression, well I'll advice them to get the help they need. If they're dying and losing control of their body slowly, being in perpetual agony, I'll conceed they have a point. If they are just filled with existential dread, I'll probably engage them in philosiphical discussions regarding the meaning(lessness) of existence, and the absurdity of the cosmos.

That would depend on why he/she was contemplating suicide. It would probably be a long conversation. Unless we're talking physical disability to the point where he/she no longer feels any enjoyment in life. In that situation I would ask for death myself, so I would not recommend to someone else not to.

Generally speaking, this is the only life we get. Ending it prematurely seems wasteful. Not making the most of it is the worst thing anyone can do with it.

No Atheists/Humanists/Secularists would want to commit suicide over this view-That is; we just came from nowhere for no reason and are going no where for no purpose.

I would remind him of all the people he would be hurting by doing that. I know someone who did it, it tore his family apart, his dad had a heart attack because of it, it tore apart a whole town. It was awful. I would tell them my experience and hope they realized that suicide is selfish and they would really be hurting their family and friends so much.

And I also don't believe that we have no purpose. I think our purpose is to make the world a better place, even if just slightly.

Not all atheists have the exact same world view, we just don't believe in any gods.

Suicide is absurd.

'Coming from nowhere' is actually quite profound when you think about it.

My purpose is none of your fvcking business. Your retarded purpose is, however, my business. Why? Because you are constantly broadcasting it, numbnutz.

Let us look at your purpose: You do things for some long dead snake-oil salesman thinking you will get your reward after you die. What a freakin' retard.

I don't know because that isn't my world view. I came from a family for the reason that they wanted a son, and I am going plenty of places as long as I stay alive.

I'm an athiest, my "world view" is not that we came from nowhere for no reason and are going no where for no purpose.

It depends on their situation. If they still have hope and promise ahead of them then it would be foolish to throw all that away. We have to make what we can of life and get as much out of it as we can.

However, there are some situations such as painful terminal illnesses where suicide is a more rational option.