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Good morning. Picture a film-set English village church. From the wooden lychgate a path leads to the porch, and on either side of the path, in the flower strewn church yard, there are dozens of charmingly weathered gravestones. But now do what never happens when this picture book image is conjured up – go round the back, from the sunny south side, to the shady north side. You will probably find no grave stones, but if the ground is a bit uneven, it’s a sure sign this dismal spot was used for the burial of the irregulars, as they would have been seen – babies who died unbaptized, criminals, and those who had taken their own lives. A report from United for Global Mental Health published this week is calling for the decriminalization of suicide in those 20 countries in the world where it is still a crime. Suicide remains a significant cause of death worldwide. In 2019 more than seven hundred thousand died by suicide – that is one in every hundred deaths, more than die from malaria, or HIV, or breast cancer. And as the Report telling points out, criminalization is counter-productive – the stigma of criminalization actually deters those who need help from seeking it. I’m afraid to say that, of course, traditional Christian teaching has been part of the problem – on the basis of that teaching regular Christian burial was withheld from those who had ‘laid violent hands upon themselves’ as it used to be put, and the act was criminalized in most Western countries. This does indeed seem extraordinarily wrong-headed. In the dark place in which people contemplate suicide, hearing the command ‘you shall not’ or ‘it is forbidden’ is just another burden. In the face of deep despair, what people actually need to hear is not ‘you shall not’, but ‘you need not’. In other words, the task of the Christian community, and of other communities, is to hold out to those in the midst of suicidal thoughts the hope that on the other side of their troubles there is a possibility of a new and better future. Or to put it poetically as the psalmist does speaking to God, ‘if I go down to the depths, thou art there also.’ No one should be deterred from seeking the professional help and support which those with suicidal thoughts need. But decriminalization, however important, is only one part in seeking to reduce suicide rates. Suicidal thoughts represent the acute phase in a case of deep despair; but the chronic condition of a sense of hopelessness about the future sometimes results from the lack of life chances in the middle and low income countries where, according to the Report, 77% of the world’s suicides occur. For hope is not so much a personal as a social virtue – it is not just about my disposition, but about my wider circumstances, including my having a future I can believe in. If you are suffering distress or despair, help and support is available - bbc.co.uk/actionline