Exactly what I was thinking-people who call a suicide hotline are in the depths of hopelessness and despair and they need to be treated with kindness and compassion. Whatever the beliefs of the person who works for the hotline they should not come up to begin with. A person calling about feeling suicidal should not have to deal with the social or political beliefs of the operator. I think it is horrible that some of the people who posted here have had such negative experiences in a time when they needed compassion the most.

I have called a suicide hotline twice in my life. Once I spoke with someone who sounded inexperienced and as if they were reading from a card. I didn't feel any kind of connection or caring. The other experience was helpful because the person sounded like they actually cared about me and what happened to me. And, when you are feeling suicidal it is not easy (if not impossible for some) to do things you might normally do when faced with certain situations-such as getting the name of the person to file a complaint or asking for a supervisor.