"In fact, the data show that the more religious you are on average the fewer mental health problems you have and the lower your suicidality." "People often think that religion is just all bad and creates mental health problems," Dyer said. "If the rate isn't zero, we have work to do" Dyer said.īut when Dyer hears a statement like the one from Ellen DeGeneres, he worries it paints religion, in particular the LDS Church, with too broad a brush. But one thing is certain - Utah has the country's fifth-highest suicide rate. The data aren't clear enough to determine causes. "Sometimes we think, 'Surely somebody has a really good lock on exactly where those numbers are.' While a lot of times they are just estimates," Dyer said.ĭyer, like many researchers, relies on numbers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Justin Dyer, a religion professor and researcher at Brigham Young University, said the data aren't clear enough to tie the Church's teachings to the high suicide rate. If the rate isn't zero, we have work to do - Justin Dyer Suicide research is difficult to conduct, in part, because those who have committed suicide can't speak for themselves. It may be a frequently said that the Church's conservative stance has caused a rise in suicides, but proving it is another matter. The Church even labels those in same-gender relationships as "apostates" whose children require special permission to be baptized. Often that role goes to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which calls homosexuality a serious sin. This has left people scrambling for answers, and, at times, someone to blame. Those in the LGBT community are especially prone to attempt to take their lives. Like many other states in the Intermountain West, Utah has a higher suicide rate than the national average. As DeGeneres and Reynolds highlighted on the show, Utah's youth suicide rate was a driving force behind LOVELOUD.Īnd then DeGeneres read the provocative statement from a note card. The concert aims to champion love and acceptance for Utah's LGBT community through music.
The film is about Reynolds' effort to organize the LOVELOUD concert, the second of which is scheduled for July 28 at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City. "Suicide in Utah has increased 141 percent because of the shame they feel from the Mormon Church."ĭeGeneres was talking about Utah because singer and frontman Dan Reynolds of Provo's Imagine Dragons, arguably one of the most popular bands in the world, was on her show to discuss his Mormon faith and to promote his HBO documentary "Believer."
"The leading cause of death for Utah kids, ages 11-17, is suicide," she said during an episode that aired last month.
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It was a controversial yet common refrain about suicide, Mormons and LGBT people in Utah, this time from daytime TV talk show host Ellen DeGeneres.