Okay, this actually arose in my mind again when I was reading the "Atheism and Morality" thread. Personally I am of the view that there is no such thing as a necessary connection between theism, atheism and morality: a theist may be immoral just as surely as an atheist may be moral and vice versa. Its all down to the nature and conscience of the individual. But I digress.

So I am reading that thread and just as I had pointed out to the OP, another poster (harakiri) made a post announcing himself an atheist and stating that his morals would depend strictly on his personal views and nothing else.

This got me thinking - is there in fact any particular "immoral" thing which an atheist may be favourably inclined towards on account of his atheism?

I felt at first glance that there was no such a thing. And perhaps indeed there isn't.

Nevertheless I probed the question in my mind and thought: if indeed an atheist's moral compass could be circumscribed by anything, it must be something that arises from the fact that the atheist holds himself as the highest power in his own life.

Is there any sin that could arise from such? It would have to be a sin with regard to oneself then.

Enter the sin of Suicide.

I have always thought that people should have the right to choose to die: essentially because i regard death as nothing more than a transition from one realm to the other, nothing more than that. I see no reason why a conscious being cannot decide that he wants to go to a different realm: pretty much as one may decide to permanently re-locate to a different country.

The Religious mind, however, regards suicide as a sin, and in many countries attempted suicide is a crime.

So. . .what are your views - is there anything morally wrong with suicide?

What about mercy-killing - Euthanasia?

In my opinion, mercy killings are moral e.g

(1)An badly decapitated victim of a bomb blast who will definitely die from protracted agony.
(2)A convicted murderer on death row being "dispatched" in a humane way via lethal injection.
(3)Sedating diary/poultry animals before killing them for human consumption.
(4)A badly injured camel/mule/donkey in the Sahara desert that will not make it and thus becomes a liability.

My 2 cents.

On the issue of suicide, i'm pretty skeptical coz it's a four-pronged crossroad and pretty dicey.Suicide in today's social construct can be moral and immoral depending on the circumstances. I'll give two examples :

(1) The recently divorced man who just lost his job,wife,kids,cars,retirement benefits and all including being in jail and loosing his freedom could easily consider suicide as part of his "options". I view this type as being immoral (not totally because of the man but how his death would affect others. . .the stigma and all that).

(2) The middle aged lady who's been suffering from fibromyalgia (a disease that puts in the victim in constant agonizing pains all through life), anemia,diabetes,gastrointestinal disorders and finally a deadly brain tumor which if operated, gives her a 5% chance of surviving and in event of her unexpected recovery, she'll live the rest of her natural life as a living vegetable. If she opts out for ASSISTED SUICIDE, i don't think anyone has the right to deny her that privilege. Imagine living like that for a second with all those complications and finally, becoming a living vegetable! ! !


***shudders at the thought***

Our lives are not ours, not really. We complete the experiences of other people we interact with, and I believe thats an iron-cast value of the human life: it serves a very vital role in the society - no matter what the role is: each life is a part of the jigsaw. It is quite wicked to commit suicide just because you can, and more so unsustenable: destroying that which you can't multiply or at least replace. Then on the other hand mercy killing makes one an accomplice. It may even have worse repercussions because I believe the laws of life will require you, the living one, to stand for the two of you just like the dead one did. These are my own persuasions.