ABSTRACT
Most major religions consider suicide a sin or a tragically mistaken action, and this moral judgment causes much distress to those who believe in these religions but who are, nevertheless, thinking about killing themselves. The moral question is easily highlighted for there are two major ways of deciding this issue, namely absolute principles and the utilitarian approach. The fact that suicide is viewed as a moral wrong by many faiths leads some suicidal individuals to change their religious philosophy in order to justify their choice of self-destruction to themselves and to their loved ones. In order to cope with the moral judgment that religions place on suicide, people about to kill themselves often try to justify their choice, and their efforts can be sometimes observed in the suicide notes they leave. In moral philosophy, the use of absolute principles is known as duty ethics and the utilitarian approach as teleological ethics.
