E-mail on Suicides

13 August

mailbag2I received a comment on our and I thought was worthy of highlighting.  What was telling about this note is the ‘assumption’ I’ve not done my homework. The article he took umbrage with is listed first and then his note.  John’s note is in black font. My response to him is in red;

Utah Suicide and Vital Stats

“About one per day” is how a reporter for the Deseret News summed up suicide in Utah a few years ago.

My investigation about this subject over the years has my main question left unanswered; “why”.

Why does Utah have a higher than average suicide rate compared to the rest of the nation if this is Zion?

If the majority of the population in Utah is LDS shouldn’t their vital stats reflect the fruit of this “one true church” that pumps the message their goal is to be happy?

Sadly we’ve discovered the fruits of Mormonism are nothing but.

You can find stats in our reports from the Utah Dept of Health, the FBI, CDC, and even Utah Dept of Education below.

2004 Utah’s Dark Reality

2006 Utah’s Vital Stats

2008 Utah’s Legacy 

2010 About One Per Day 

2012 The ABC’s of Utah’s Vital Stats

2013 Suicide in Utah (update)

2014 Utah’s Suicide Rate Climbs Again (update on latest stats)

And you are going to just leave it at that: It is because of the Mormon Church, and that’s that, simply because you said so?

Actually I didn’t say so – the stats did that all on their own.  Furthermore, if you had read any of the articles at all you’d find that I’ve explicitly stated that many factors play into the scenario. Mormonism isn’t the sole reason why.

This may or may not be true. But you have made absolutely no effort beyond your simple–probably biased–assertion.

You’ve obviously not read my articles. 

This is like saying that because the rooster crows every morning before the sun comes up it is certain that the rooter itself is what caused the sun to rise in the morning.

Just because two things are correlated does not automatically mean there is a causal link between them. Unless you look at the demographics and actual reasons behind these suicides, you really can support an assertion like this.

True. And unless you’ve read all the material written for an ongoing series for the past 10 years you shouldn’t be doing that either. 

“Mormon” Utah is actually getting pretty watered down by sometime outsiders moving into the area. In many areas in Utah, Mormon’s are not even a majority anymore, and for all you know, it could be these sometime outsiders who are committing suicide rather than the Mormons.

I’m praying you read the set of articles in this series to see how the numbers fall and what’s going on inside of Utah. 

I would be curious to know if the suicide statistics are actually higher among the LDS population in general–both inside and outside of Utah.

That info is actually in one of the reports and the research was performed by the Mormons, not me. 

In may turn out that LDS folks are in fact more likely to commit suicide, but your simple assertion certainly does nothing to shed any real light on this notion.

John

Know that we’re praying for you John and praying that you’ll actually read the articles to find out for yourself what takes place in Utah. 

I write this series because of how sad my heart is for my people. It frustrates me that this keeps taking place inside Utah and decade after decade it never seems to change. I’ve personally been impacted by family members and friends who’ve committed suicide in Utah (all Mormons), thus my concern and my reasoning for bringing attention to it. 

With Love in Christ;

Michelle

1 Cor 1:18

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