Robert L. Barry

In the following viewpoint, Robert L. Barry, a Dominican priest and professor of religious studies at the University of Illinois, responds to Margaret Pabst Battin’s argument that suicide does not necessarily harm society. Barry argues that self-killing does in fact cause severe harm to society since an individual’s suicide inflicts severe grief on others, deprives the community of the individual’s talents, and tempts others to take their own lives. For these reasons, writes Barry, the best policy is to prohibit or at least actively discourage suicide. Barry is the author of Breaking the Thread of Life: On Rational Suicide, from which this viewpoint is excerpted.

As you read, consider the following questions:

1. In Barry’s opinion, how are teenage suicides especially harmful to the community?
2. In Barry’s view, how have suicide...