Suppose a person were to honestly and confidentially say to you,

[Occam Bandage]

"I've wanted to kill myself for quite a while now, but I can't, because it's a mortal sin and I would go to Hell, and the thought of Hell torments me." (This has happened to me.)

If you could press a magic button and strip that person of their belief in Hell, would you? Whether you choose to press the button or not, I am assuming that you will continue to do whatever you believe is appropriate to ensure this person gets appropriate interventionary treatment as quickly as possible.

[greyl]

1. Did their suicidal thoughts arise of guilt, hopelessness, emotional pain, or what?

Wondering if their religious beliefs are the cause of their suicidal notions, assuming they're being honest with you.

edit: To answer, no, talking to them about their belief in Hell wouldn't nearly be a first priority.
edit 2: To answer as if I actually read your OP for comprehension, no. What benefit would there be? If they got help for the suicidal tendencies, maybe pressing the Magic Button would be unnecessary.
Kind of a convoluted hypothetical situation there.

[Occam Bandage]

3. You have no further knowledge of their emotional state,

and are unaware of any particular cause of their suicidal thoughts. It's assumed they're being entirely honest.

[greyl]

6. I'd say "No". I'd rather deal with their suicidal thoughts.

I think those have more power over a person, ultimately, and are more immediate than beliefs about what happens upon death.

[Mz Pip]

2. No

As tempting as it might be, I would not want to have that much power over anyone's belief system.

[ZombieHorde]

4. If their sucidal feelings came from believing in an angry, shallow,

and vindictive god, then I would press that button; but otherwise no, I wouldn't. I voted no.

[mrreowwr_kittty]

8. That's what I'm thinking too.

It may be exposure to religious insanity that caused the whole problem in the first place. Then again, it's also possible that emotionally fragile people are attracted to religion.

[Jamastiene]

5. I'm not sure.

I would have to know more about their state of mind to be able to answer this question definitively. As of what I have to go on right now, I would say I cannot answer. I would, however, try to get them help for the suicidal feelings anyhow. I know what those are like and they are unfathomable to live with. Once they were emotionally stable again and not feeling those feelings, I would definitely argue about them about Hell...and point out that much of Earth is like the Biblical description of Bell as of right now.

It's a good question, but I honestly don't know how else to answer, except get them help first and argue about Hell later.

[mrreowwr_kittty]

7. Neither.

I would be a lot less concerned with the person's religious beliefs than with their psychic distress. Let them continue to believe in Hell if it keeps them alive.

Although...if religion is a major factor in their emotional problems that would throw a different light on the situation. Either way it's not my place to dictate what someone else believes.

Very interesting question you have posed here, Occam!

[aquart]

9. No, I'd inquire as to their vitamin intake.

And ask if they'd had their thyroid checked. And how much time they'd been spending indoors.

Damnation has nothing to do with depression.

[varkam]

10. No (but not for the reason you would suspect)

If there were such a button, I would not use it. I would not use it, but not because I would be afraid that person would kill themselves. Rather, I would not use it because I think something like that would run against what I see as human rights. A big part of human rights is autonomy, and a sub-set of that is that people should be free to believe or disbelieve as they wish (so long as no one else's rights are infringed upon). Having a button where you could just change people's beliefs at-will, without any consideration to their own rights or wishes, would be a violation of human rights IMO. That doesn't mean that you can't debate or argue, though, because at the end of the day it is still up to them.

[cosmik debris]

11. It doesn't matter

People with mental illness are not going to change their behavior or attitudes just because you negate one of their beliefs.

They are mentally ill. They are going to behave as mentally ill people do.

[Jim__]

12. Do you assume that there necessarily is "appropriate interventionary treatment"?

My thought is that this may be a genuine dilemma for the person.

Assume the person is terminally ill with little enjoyment left in life and is concerned that the cost of their illness is draining their family's funds. If the person believes in hell, then this is probably not the time to try to convince them (or recommend counselling to convince them) that there is no afterlife. Their concern about their family's finances may well be legitimate. There may be no good resolution to their problem.

[Occam Bandage]

15. Well, it's all down to the word "appropriate."

In the hypothetical you provided, I think a conversation with a religious teacher sympathetic to right-to-die issues might be all the "interventionary treatment" that I would find "appropriate," though that is a slightly awkward reading of "intervention."

[Jim__]

16. Given the premise that she believes killing herself is a mortal sin ...

... then, I would consider any religious teacher that would advise her that killing herself was alright to be as inappropriate as getting her counselling that claimed there is no afterlife. Essentially, at an extremely critical time of her life, you are telling her that her lifelong beliefs are not valid. She already has enough to deal with. I certainly wouldn't recommend that counselling.

[BurtWorm]

13. If I believed in a universe with an omnipotent god who allows for a hell in it

I'd want to kill myself too.

[PassingFair]

14. Depends on how well I know them.

If I really wanted to help the person, then YES,
I would push the button and be there to continue
to counsel them as they begin to accept reality.

If I didn't want to get involved, then I wouldn't
even try to get to the bottom of their problems,
and they could rationalize away their actions in
whatever way works for them.

[tinrobot]

17. If they're suicidal, they're already in hell.

[zonmoy]

18. I know that I ended up in that state when the religious and emotional abuse

from my family trying to force me back into their fundamentalist beliefs simply became too much for me to deal with. you might be better off trying to get the person out of whatever hellish religion he has been forced into.

[Evoman]

19. Your situation intrigues me. I wonder how a person in that situation would respond to an offer of

murder.

If you told the person that you would be willing to kill them in some painless way so that they wouldn't go to hell but still have their wish, what would they say? Would they run away from you, or would they take you up on your offer.

Just a thought.

[Crunchy Frog]

20. No, because it's not my place to be rearranging other people's minds

and stripping them of beliefs simply because I don't agree with/approve of them. It's a totalitarian mindset to think that's acceptable.