An interesting article at AEON talking about something that is apparently well known in certain circles, but of which I was unaware:
In his classic Le suicide (1897), Durkheim presented aggregate indicators suggesting that Protestantism was a leading correlate of suicide incidence. The proposition that Protestants have higher suicide rates than Catholics has been ‘accepted widely enough for nomination as sociology’s one law’.
Protestant countries today still tend to have substantially higher suicide rates. This fact suggests that the relation of religion and suicide remains a vital topic. Every year, more than 800,000 people commit suicide worldwide, making it a leading cause of death, in particular among young adults.The article looks at research on suicide rates in 19th century Prussia, when apparently there were careful records kept, and it was also easy to account for the mix of Protestant and Catholics in different counties. The research apparently confirmed the Protestant suicide connection:
As a consequence of this geographic pattern of diffusion, the share of Protestants is higher near Wittenberg. So is the suicide rate. The share of Protestants in a county is clearly positively associated with the suicide rate. The average suicide rate is notably higher in all-Protestant counties than in all-Catholic counties. Numerically, the difference in suicides between religious denominations in Prussia is huge: suicide rates among Protestants (at 18 per 100,000 people per year) are roughly three times higher than among Catholics.OK, interesting.
Next up, I would like some sociological/economic research on why some intensely Catholic countries develop well entrenched criminal gangs that will cause death and mayhem on a remarkable scale, while the gang members still nominally think of themselves as decent Catholics - the Mafia in Italy, the drug cartels in Mexico and some other Central and South American countries; the corruption in The Philippines. Is it just a case of Catholicism not being as good as Protestantism at creating wealth, so the poverty in those countries is the breeding ground for criminal gangs?
A guess, quite possibly wrong since my view of Catholicism is from the outside, but perhaps the ritual of confession can take the place of actual repentance in the minds of those whose livelihood is derived from violence and theft. Sort of a transactional view of faith displacing a contemplative model.
ReplyDeleteThose societies also seem to value the strongman. The Xtian fundamentalists in the USA seem to have fallen for a perceived strongman, with a transactional view of the world, so perhaps one could ask how fundamentalist Protestant culture of the USA has produced a political sentiment more akin to the Catholic cultures of the Philippines and Mexico.
Your first point certainly is likely to have some historical significance. Interestingly, though, the drop off in Catholics actually using one-on-one confession (at least in Western countries) over the last 50 years is dramatic. So it may play a less important role in any modern Catholic deciding to get involved in a life of crime.
ReplyDeleteSecond point is fair enough too.
Is Catholicism in Central and South America Christian, or a continuation of their Pre-Conquest 'spiritual activities'?
ReplyDeleteMaybe a better example might be Dublin in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries, when Protestant and Catholic Gangs battled it out
I wish I knew the identity of the anonymous who keeps turning up lately....
ReplyDeleteNot sure that the matter of sectarian violence between protestant and catholic is all that puzzling. That seems just your updated form of tribalistic conflict centred around identity. I'm more interested in the matter of how, say, the Mafia or Mexican drug cartels engage in extreme corruption and harm within their own "tribe" of fellow Catholics.