to suicide by cop. The secularization of society that began during The Enlightenment questioned traditional religious attitudes toward suicide to eventually form the modern perspective on the issue. David Hume denied that suicide was a crime as it affected no one and was potentially to the advantage of the individual. In his 1777 Essays on Suicide and the Immortality of the Soul he rhetorically asked “Why should I prolong a miserable existence, because of some frivolous advantage which the public may perhaps receive from me?” A shift in public opinion at large can also be discerned; The Times in 1786 initiated a spirited debate on the motion “Is suicide an act of courage?” By the 19th century, the act of suicide had shifted from being viewed as caused by sin to being caused by insanity in Europe. Although suicide remained illegal during this period, it increasingly became the target of satirical comment, such as the spoof advertisement in the 1839 Bentley's Miscellany for a London Suicide Company or the Gilbert and Sullivan musical The Mikado, that satirized the idea of executing someone who had already killed himself. By 1879, English law began to distinguish between suicide and homicide, although suicide still resulted in forfeiture of estate. In 1882, the deceased were permitted daylight burial in England and by the mid-20th century, suicide had become legal in much of the western world. Military suicide In ancient times, suicide sometimes followed defeat in battle, to avoid capture and possible subsequent torture, mutilation, or enslavement by the enemy. The Caesarean assassins Brutus and Cassius, for example, killed themselves after their defeat at the battle of Philippi. Insurgent Jews died in a mass suicide at Masada in 74 CE rather than face enslavement by the Romans. During World War II, Japanese units would often fight to the last man rather than surrender. Towards the end of the war, the Japanese navy sent pilots to attack Allied ships. These tactics reflect the influence of the samurai warrior culture, where seppuku was often required after a loss of honor. In recent decades, suicide attacks have been used extensively by Islamist militants. However, suicide is strictly forbidden by Islamic law, and the terrorist leaders of the groups who organize these attacks do not regard them as suicide, but as martyrdom operations. They argue the difference to be that in suicide a person kills themselves out of despair,