It is impossible to deny that, in respect to the influence of religion on the proportions of suicide in Europe, the maximum rate constantly falls to Protestant States, to the Roman Catholic next, then the Greek Church, and, lastly, the minimum falls to the Jews.
An average, estimated from a large collection of numbers by Morselli, shows that the ratio is 58 per million in Catholic States, 190 per million in Protestant States, and in the Greek Church 40 per million; but the low suicide rate of the Slavonic races renders conclusions as to the Greek Church most unreliable; but it seems to the author that this is not an accurate deduction from the relative numbers, the proportion allotted to Protestant countries being much too high.
Legoyt gives Catholics 62, Protestants 102, Greek Church 36, Jews 48, and this seems an estimate more near the truth. Curiously enough, Catholics far exceed Protestants in the statistics of total crime in all countries.
With regard to the Jews, we are met by the difficulty of the coincidence of race and religion, in the most marked form the world has ever seen. The Jews are undoubtedly more liable to lunacy than are Christians; in Bavaria, for example, there is one lunatic to 908 Catholics, 967 Protestants, and 514 Jews.
History renders it quite certain that in the days of Jewish purity, and in the time of the kings up to the Babylonish captivity, the number of suicides was very small. Self-destruction is not even mentioned in the Pentateuch as a crime; it was apparently thought that the command, “thou shall not kill,” obviously included it.
In later days the number increased; after the close of Old Testament history, when the Jews became more mixed with other nations, it became common. Many killed themselves in the Roman siege of Jerusalem, as Josephus narrates; in 1521, forty Jews were imprisoned in France, doubtless for purposes of extortion; they all killed themselves [Contes de Guillaume de Nangis, p. 96]. And although many Jews put an end to their existence during the times of terrible persecution of the Middle Ages, notably 1200-1400, they have always preserved a reputation throughout Europe for contempt of suffering, and for the avoidance of self-destruction.
Coming now to the present day once more, I introduce here a Table, compiled chiefly from Italian and German sources, which shows the comparative suicide rates, in juxtaposition to the comparative proportions of Catholic and Protestant inhabitants; it is very suggestive, and calls for a few words respecting the Protestant Religion. Compare Morselli, Influenze Sociali, p. 218.
| ── | Country. | Suicides per Million | Catholics per Thousand of Inhabitants | Protestants per Thousand of Inhabitants |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Catholic Countries | Spain | 19 | 999 | 1 |
| Portugal | 16 | 999 | 1 | |
| Italy | 44 | 995 | 2 | |
| Belgium | 90 | 996 | 4 | |
| France | 216 | 982 | 16 | |
| Mixed Catholics prevail | Ireland | 24 | 757 | 234 |
| Bavaria | 102 | 713 | 275 | |
| Lower Alsace | 130 | 642 | 322 | |
| Baden | 157 | 648 | 331 | |
| Mixed Protestants prevail | Holland, South | 50 | 367 | 613 |
| Prussia | 168 | 331 | 651 | |
| Holland, North | 54 | 278 | 663 | |
| Wurtemburg | 172 | 304 | 687 | |
| Black Forest | 160 | 259 | 736 | |
| Oldenburgh | 200 | 228 | 764 | |
| Protestant Countries | Swiss Protestant Cantons | 279 | 68 | 922 |
| England | 74 | 53 | 946 | |
| Hanover | 150 | 29 | 960 | |
| Saxony | 469 | 21 | 976 | |
| Denmark | 265 | 1 | 999 | |
| Sweden | 101 | 0 | 1,000 | |
| Norway | 75 | 0 | 1,000 |
The Protestant Religion, more than any other, is the Religion of Idea; Faith, Hope, and Charity, all ideals, are its aims; it refuses all material assistance; neither image, nor cross, nor beads, is an essential.
The Protestant is taught to educate his consciousness, and is responsible alone for his own actions; he cannot lean on the reed of comfort from Masses, or on the idea that a confession of his sins to a priest absolves him from the result of them.