Suicide: Not Always a Sin

Some suicides are not sinful, and even those that are should receive a Christian burial, says a report approved last week by the Anglican House of Bishops.

The bishops still deplored suicide as "the easy way out" in the face of impending exposure for some disgraceful act. But they ruled that persons suffering incurable diseases, or faced by rape or torture, can not be condemned if they kill themselves. Moreover, "we see no reason why the body of a suicide should not be brought into the church for a service, nor do we see any reason why it should not be buried in consecrated ground."

The report--expected to be approved by the church assembly and Parliament within a year--recommends that an alternative burial service be read over all suicides, to avoid subjective judgment on whether or not they were sinful. Two key phrases would be left out of the suicide burial service. One is, "forasmuch as it hath pleased Almighty God of his great mercy to take unto himself the soul of our dear brother here departed." The other is, "in sure and certain hope of resurrection" --on grounds that a suicide is by definition incapable of earthly repentance for his act.

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