August 14, 2014
After Robin Williams’ tragic death by suicide, a Christian blogger named Matt Walsh thought it would be helpful to educate the rest of us on the subject of suicide. In his post (look it up if you want, I won’t dignify it by linking to it from here) he makes sure we know that suicide is a “choice” and all we need to do to be released from depression is to believe in and experience joy. So are you getting this? In Walsh’s world, one might suppose all we need to do to be healed from sickness is to believe in and experience health. Not surprisingly the subtitle of his blog is “Absolute Truths,” because, well, I bet he’s pretty sure he knows them.
The “Naked Pastor,” David Hayward, penned a cartoon and a response to Walsh’s blog. It’s about what depression really is, and is a criticism of those, like Walsh, who are saying ridiculous and wounding things about Williams’s death. I hope you will read, “Matt Walsh, Robin Williams and how ignorance can lead to unkindness.“
If you want to hear it straight and uncensored from someone who knows the struggle all too well, I highly recommend this post by Glennon Melton on her Momastery blog, “People Who Need Help Sometimes Look a Lot Like People Who Don’t Need Help.”
For more information on Christianity and suicide, check out Cliff Williams’s great article, “When Christians Contemplate Suicide” here on Christian Feminism Today.
posted by Marg Herder
