The author discusses the attitudes toward suicide in the Christian & Jewish religions. Using evidence from the Bible & the Talmud, & Christian & Hebrew practices, it is shown how responses to people who attempted or completed suicide have changed significantly over time. For example, in the Christian church of the first & second centuries, passive suicidal behaviour (martyrdom) was tolerated. Starting in the fourth & fifth centuries, suicide was condemned as a mortal sin by the Church Fathers.