I was going to rant about Mother Teresa's beatification the other day, but didn't get around to it. Luckily,
iwillfearnoevil posted something relating to it; I put the link to the full interview in the comments. If you haven't seen it, it's here
Some of the reviews of Hitchens' book on amazon.com said (more or less) "this is what the Catholic Church believes; why does Hitchens expect us to be outraged?" The point isn't that the Catholic Church has hardline beliefs on birth control or divorce, but that we're granting Mother Teresa secular sainthood on the basis of her actions. It's certainly relevant to examine her beliefs and actions and decide if that acclaim is warranted. Based on what I've read and seen on TV (it was a few years ago, so I don't know if it was the documentary Hitchens did or not) I think there are serious questions about Mother Teresa and I'm disappointed that there's been so little discussion of her activities. We're led to believe, by the media, that she was this modern-day saint, working with the sickest of the sick, the poorest of the poor. Well, if she thought her only job was to bring their souls to Christ--not to alleviate their suffering in this life--I don't think that's something we should be celebrating. Her God is some kind of cosmic vampire. That may sound harsh, but it's true. And it's even more sickening to me because I'm not an atheist; I'm a believer, though not a Catholic. I know that genuinely caring for the sick and devoting oneself to God are not incompatible. It's just Mother Teresa's particular worldview (and that of other conservative Catholics) that believes that suffering is paramount. That's a sick perversion.
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Some of the reviews of Hitchens' book on amazon.com said (more or less) "this is what the Catholic Church believes; why does Hitchens expect us to be outraged?" The point isn't that the Catholic Church has hardline beliefs on birth control or divorce, but that we're granting Mother Teresa secular sainthood on the basis of her actions. It's certainly relevant to examine her beliefs and actions and decide if that acclaim is warranted. Based on what I've read and seen on TV (it was a few years ago, so I don't know if it was the documentary Hitchens did or not) I think there are serious questions about Mother Teresa and I'm disappointed that there's been so little discussion of her activities. We're led to believe, by the media, that she was this modern-day saint, working with the sickest of the sick, the poorest of the poor. Well, if she thought her only job was to bring their souls to Christ--not to alleviate their suffering in this life--I don't think that's something we should be celebrating. Her God is some kind of cosmic vampire. That may sound harsh, but it's true. And it's even more sickening to me because I'm not an atheist; I'm a believer, though not a Catholic. I know that genuinely caring for the sick and devoting oneself to God are not incompatible. It's just Mother Teresa's particular worldview (and that of other conservative Catholics) that believes that suffering is paramount. That's a sick perversion.