Reddit reviews The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice

Hitchens wrote a wonderful book exposing many of these hypocrisies as well. The article mentions the documentary (available on YouTube), but I did't see the book referenced.

Well, there's this about Mother Theresa if you're truly interested.

It was the late Christopher Hitchens who first taught me about the inhumanity of Mother Teresa, though I'd watched a lot of clips of his I haven't read his book, The Missionary Position.

What does it mean to be a wretched person? Maybe it means to be someone who feels no greater joy than watching another suffer unto death, just to feel the satisfaction of being there, when in all their desperation and without basic respite, accepting your religion on their deathbed.

By her own accounts she watched nearly 30,000 people come through her doors, and with broken empathy managed to convince them that their suffering only brought them closer to god. I'd like to know how anyone came to the conclusion that this woman was worthy more than anybody else of earning a Nobel peace prize.

Hitchens did a book about her too if anyone is interested.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Missionary-Position-Mother-Practice/dp/1455523003

I also recommend the book, The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice by Christopher Hitchens.

Hitchens is the one who actually played the literal Devils Advocate for the Vatican, providing evidence and argument against the sainthood of this woman.

Edit: Here's an article by him on the same subject.

Here and here.

An interesting thing about Christopher Hitchens' book on Mother Teresa, The Missionary Position, is that the criticisms about it are not about the content. The content is too well documented for critics to attack. The criticsms are about Hitchens himself, or straw man arguments like the one shown by OP.

Christopher Hitchens book, The Missionary Position.

https://www.amazon.com/Missionary-Position-Mother-Teresa-Practice/dp/1455523003

The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice

Is a great book by - Christopher Hitchens

> Mother Teresa was a humanitarian, so your statement is obviously nothing but a troll.

Christopher Hitchens will be glad to explain to you why she was such a terrible person. He also wrote an entire book on it if you are really interested

I'm kind of surprised you aren't aware of the plentiful evidence of what an awful shit she was. Regardless of whether or not you agree with the conclusions, referring to it hardly makes one a troll. It's a well supported argument offered by one of the most famous modern atheists and many others.

I would recommend Christopher Hitchens Book The Missionary Position

What an interesting question! Having taught books like MAUS and Night to multiple English classes, I can offer my perspective.

>It had a profound but negative impact on me, because I learned about this at the age of 13 and 15 and I was traumatized by the hate I learned the world has.

Me too. I learned about the holocaust at synagogue ("Saturday School"). We all took the course in 7th grade, which is also when most of us were going through the process of bar and bat mitzvah. Unlike the times I learned about it in my secular, public high school, this course was "no holds barred," meaning that we saw graphic pictures and films, read graphic accounts, learned horrifying facts, and spoke with many survivors. I had many bad dreams. As a Jew, even in America, knowing about the holocaust has made me live with a degree of fear that this could happen again, not just to Jews, but to any marginalized people. It contributed in a huge way to my urges towards social justice and a sensitivity to the suffering of others, both in history and today, whether they be in Rwanda or Syria. It taught me that part of becoming an adult is understanding that humanity has a deep evil. It also taught me about the efforts of many brave and heroic people, however, like those in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising and the "Defiant" story of the Bielski brothers, and many non-Jews like those in Denmark, Sweden, and England.

So to answer your question:

>Is this really the time to learn about all the violence and atrocities and give so much focus on that particular subject?

Yes, this is the time.

And as /u/itsacalamity pointed out, your comparisons to Mother Theresa and Gandhi are not appropriate. Mainly, the story of the holocaust is the story of Europe in the 20th century, not just one or a few individuals. The holocaust happened not just because of Hitler and the Nazis but because a so-called "advanced" civilization allowed it to happen (and continues to either perpetrate or stand by similar horrors). And by all means, study these people! Yes, you should definitely study Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X and Nelson Mandela and Eleanor Roosevelt and Jane Addams and so on, but also the traditions that informed them, like Christian charity, Ubuntu, and American pragmatism.

>The adolescent age is a time where we are our most vulnerable emotionally and we are still trying to form our identities.

Hopefully learning about the suffering of others and the perpetrators of evil will form a part of your identity that will not see yourself as exempt from suffering and will prompt you to take part in the diminishing of the suffering of others as an antidote.

As most people understandably have a favourable opinion of her and don't want to believe an Opindia article. Here, copied from my reply to another comment:

Hells Angel (Mother Teresa) - Christopher Hitchens

Watch this documentary. He also wrote a book on her. She was a nun and it didn't matter if the people in her Home of the dying received good hospice care, painkillers, etc. She just wanted to save their souls. A significant number of them could have lived if they received normal treatment. I don't believe that she had malicious intentions but she was a Christian fundamentalist and just wanted to expedite her patients' journey to heaven.

Read Hitchens: http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/fighting_words/2003/10/mommie_dearest.html

https://www.amazon.com/Missionary-Position-Mother-Teresa-Practice/dp/1455523003

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65JxnUW7Wk4

Not just America. Italy and Ireland (half anyway) are devoutly Catholic.

A certain acerbic, recently deceased, political commentator suggested Mother Theresa should be tried as a war criminal for all her efforts to keep women pregnant and poor.

Christopher Hitchens and his book.

> I will leave saving the world to you, Mother Teresa.

And even that is controversial given her attitudes while alive, if you can trust Christopher Hitchens' book about her. I've read it and it is terrifying.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Missionary-Position-Mother-Practice/dp/1455523003

I would also recommend his book, The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice

Unauthorized biographies could be fun. I'm surprised this list doesn't include "The Missionary Position" by Christopher Hitchens

That's okay, Hitchens wasn't afraid to.

I could be wrong, but I think most of us here have gotten our Mommy-T sources from Christopher Hitchens's writings

http://www.amazon.com/The-Missionary-Position-Mother-Practice/dp/1455523003

Too lazy to complete their thoughts. Anyways, she took the money that was donated and poured it into the convent amongst other things. American intellectual Christopher Hitchens wrote a book about her.

https://www.amazon.com/The-Missionary-Position-Mother-Practice/dp/1455523003

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Mother_Teresa

The information Mother Theresa can be corroborated by Christopher Hitchens book about her.

Here is Hitchen's book https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1455523003

Here is a blog post that recaps much of Hitchen's meticulous research. http://www.patheos.com/blogs/progressivesecularhumanist/2015/12/mother-teresa-sadistic-religious-fanatic/

What is insane about repeating known facts?

Same material in book format.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Missionary-Position-Mother-Teresa-Practice/dp/1455523003/

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-JjaAh0NeU and MT are one and the same to me.

The definitive book on the woman:

https://www.amazon.com/Missionary-Position-Mother-Teresa-Practice/dp/1455523003

Always a classic read.

Ah, I see. No worries - you see why it sounded a bit, uh, uncool. :P

As for actually answering your question though, this thread has lots of varying levels of TL;DR in it that should work, and beyond that, there's the Wikipedia page (also linked in this thread).

If you want the exact opposite of a TL;DR, Christopher Hitchens wrote a short book called The Missionary Position (cheeky bugger) about how much he dislikes Mother Theresa.

I think your observation is correct. I wish there was a local journalist willing to do a long-form deep investigation similar to what Hitchens did for Mother Teresa... (looking at you, RFT).

Mother Teresa wasn't so great The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice https://www.amazon.com/dp/1455523003/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_I3YvDbPT1R5RD

This book and if you google the title you can find shorter essays that cover the salient points. Mother Teresa was a cunt.

Christopher Hitchens put her on blast a while ago in his book The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice

The Roman Catholic nun Mother Teresa, who is widely considered to be a moral role model was actually an awful individual.

Despite converting thousands of individuals, Mother Teresa questioned her faith. So much so that it is fair enough to call her an agnostic. Source

She never truly helped the poor because she believed some people were meant to suffer. She once said "I think it is very beautiful for the poor to accept their lot, to share it with the passion of Christ. I think the world is being much helped by the suffering of the poor people."

While she provided food, and temporary shelter to the poor, it was evident that she never intended to empower the poor. The medical care that she provided to patients has also come under criticism as being hazardous. She embezzled donations so that they could be used by the Vatican for general use.

Many of her donations came from illegal sources. She accepted money from a dictator from Haiti, Jean-Claude Duvalier. Duvalier stole millions from the people of Haiti. Charles Keating, who was convicted in the saving and loans scandal donated over a million to Mother Teresa. Furthermore, she accepted donations from Robert Maxwell who embezzled over £450 million.

Mother Teresa believed that condoms were worst than aids, and refused to supply contraception to people who definitely needed them. She also encouraged people to baptize people as they were dying regardless of their religious affiliation.

Christopher Hitchens published a book called the Missionary Position that argues that Mother Teresa was a figurehead for the Catholic Church's fundamentalist views, not the saint she is portrayed to be.

Sure, read https://www.amazon.com/Missionary-Position-Mother-Teresa-Practice/dp/1455523003

<looks at the comments>

Not surprised....not surprised. Prepare to have your notions shattered.

Check out this book by Christopher Hitchens The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice.

It's called "Hell's Angel: Mother Teresa" Youtube

And here's the book he wrote about her: The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice Amazon Wikipedia

Here

http://www.amazon.com/Missionary-Position-Mother-Teresa-Practice/dp/1455523003/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1411755691&sr=8-1&keywords=the+missionary+position+christopher+hitchens

Hitch was not a fan.

Alternatively, you could read the dear late Hitchens' excellent The Missionary Position (available in fine bookstores everywhere).

And the name of said book...The Missionary Position (God I miss Hitchens)

https://www.amazon.com/Missionary-Position-Mother-Teresa-Practice/dp/1455523003

not really, ad-hoc arguments wouldnt get me anywhere. I would still debate that the internet has a larger educational base of over 2.4 billion. I dont think they could dream of hitting that many people.

As far as healthcare is concerned... If their flagship example of healthcare (as a non/never catholic's view) is the woman known as "Mother Teresa". I would rather not have their brand of "help". http://www.alternet.org/belief/mother-theresas-masochism-does-religion-demand-suffering-keep-people-passive Also see: http://www.amazon.com/The-Missionary-Position-Mother-Practice/dp/1455523003

She was a real bitch. For anyone who wants to know more about her, I strongly recommend Christopher Hitchens' book The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice.

>"Mother Teresa was not a friend of the poor. She was a friend of poverty. She said that suffering was a gift from God. She spent her life opposing the only known cure for poverty, which is the empowerment of women and the emancipation of them from a livestock version of compulsory reproduction." - Christopher Hitchens

Check out Hitch's book on the topic:

The Missionary Position: Mother Theresa in Theory and Practice .... best title ever.