Question:
What are some criticisms of Mother Theresa?
vikingaprinsessan
2008-01-07 19:21:07 UTC
I noticed there are several books written calling her a fraud and a fake etc... I was just wondering if anyone could list a few reasons why people have argued this.
31 answers:
Moo
2008-01-07 19:31:34 UTC
She was obsessed with suffering. In her covenants. People in her care did not receive proper care, it was pretty much a place to suffer and die.



From one of her former nuns

http://www.hvk.org/articles/0607/58.html



One of her twisted philosophies was "the most beautiful gift for a person that he can participate in the sufferings of Christ". Once she tried to comfort a screaming sufferer: "You are suffering, that means Jesus is kissing you!" The man got furious and screamed back: "Then tell your Jesus to stop kissing."



She accepted money from some notorious criminals. She took millions of dollars and used to to spread religion rather than to treat the poor.





Her sainthood was of extremely suspicious nature. First, you normally require 2 miracles and a certain time after death before you can be deemed a saint. However, the Catholic Church was undergoing a lot of public relations nightmares. They reduced the # of miracles to one and removed the time limit.



The miracle they used was bogus. A woman claimed to have been healed by Mother Teresa's spirit, but her husband verified it was actually doctors.
Mr. Stabby the Monkeypimp
2008-01-07 19:30:44 UTC
If you try to live an altruistic life, you will always get people calling you a fraud. Altruism however by definition is a good deed without reward, some people (psychological egoists) believe that even a good feeling from helping someone can be considered a reward. As can media recognition, etc. I reckon she would still do what she did without any recognition though. Unlike princess diana.. Now there was a fraud.
Chantal G
2008-01-07 19:54:26 UTC
I've heard the malicious talk, too. But what I believe in more is her actual words.



A reporter once asked her, "When you pray, what do you say to God?"



Mother Theresa: "Nothing. I just listen."



Reporter: "And what does God say to you?"



Mother Theresa: "Nothing. He just listens, too. And if you don't understand that, I can't explain it to you."



That tells me all I need to know about her--and it's good. She may have had severe doubts about her faith. There may have been days when she was just going through the motions--When you're working with so many people that downtrodden, it is bound to wear on you. She tried to make of herself an endless well, and no one can be that. After a point, you need to be given some attention back.



And why keep the living conditions poor? Because the area surrounding the mission was poor. Have you ever seen a bag lady who would willingly set foot in a nice, well-kept building? None of the ones I've ever met would; they were afraid to.



I don't know what the actual state of the mission headquarters is or was, but that would be my guess as to why it might have been kept in poor condition--to make it as humble as its surroundings. Is that the right thing to do? Heck if I know. It's just my best guess.
Martin S
2008-01-07 19:28:00 UTC
I think the criticisms came from two sources. The first was that she made statements that made it look like she didn't believe that it was important for a person to trust in Jesus for their salvation as long as they lived a good life showing love to others.



"There is only one God and He is God to all; therefore it is important that everyone is seen as equal before God. I’ve always said we should help a Hindu become a better Hindu, a Muslim become a better Muslim, a Catholic become a better Catholic. We believe our work should be our example to people. We have among us 475 souls - 30 families are Catholics and the rest are all Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs—all different religions. But they all come to our prayers."



The other source of criticism came when it was revealed that for many years she was just going through the motions of being saintly but had no real faith in her heart to comfort her.



The letters, written by Mother Teresa in the 1950s and 1960s to her church spiritual guides, also reveal the troubling and, at times, painful conflicts she sometimes had with her faith.



"I am told God lives in me -- and yet the reality of darkness and coldness and emptiness is so great that nothing touches my soul," she wrote in one of the letters.



Some of the letters depict a spiritually bereft Mother Teresa, struggling to maintain her belief.



"Where I try to raise my thoughts to heaven, there is such convicting emptiness that those very thoughts return like sharp knives and hurt my very soul. Love -- the word -- it brings nothing," wrote the woman known the world over as the "Messiah of Love."



In another letter, Mother Teresa wrote, "In my soul, I can't tell you how dark it is, how painful, how terrible -- I feel like refusing God."
?
2016-10-22 07:55:16 UTC
some people % to coach each and each factor into evil. relies upon who writes the object. Hell i think of of Benny Hinn and J. Smith are the two phonies yet what the hell previous Benny gets people to donate thousands of hundreds of thousands of greenbacks to him and that they made him a millionaire. LDS Church quite collects 5 billion funds a 12 months. and that all of them think of of i'm nuts. bypass verify. This JW lady swears God reappeared in 1914, Oh suitable. have been beating a ineffective horse they have not found out how 30,000 distinctive ideals could desire to be precise or incorrect. The logic purely isn't there no count type what you declare.
AS
2008-01-07 19:28:19 UTC
I feel qualified to answer this. I was in Ethiopia during the famine of 85/86 flying relief supplies. I volunteered on my days off at an orphanage...and Mother Teresa came and asked me to work with her for several days...She would pick me up from the hotel...driving herself in an old beaten up pick-up truck...We talked from dawn to dusk every day..

I found...

She had a tremendous sense of life and humour

She had no fear of being harmed..she trusted and surrendered totally to God

Her favorite response to me was..God will provide...

She spoke to me about her doubts...she was very real and human...

But rather than seek to criticize her may I suggest you get out there and be brave...go and give your love and time to others...

I could write much more but that is probably enough...
ɹɐǝɟsuɐs Blessed Cheese Maker
2008-01-07 19:25:00 UTC
There is no doubt that she provided help to people in need though most of her life.



Many close to her claim she questioned her faith as a result of being so close to so much suffering. This doesn't take away from her selfless behavior and the great good she did for the people in calcutta.



Others argue that the majority of money given to her mission was not spent on the clinics she ran on purpose, to continue to propegate the image of suffering....



Who knows.
anonymous
2008-01-07 19:33:22 UTC
According to Saint Paul she couldn't possibly be saved unless she had some babies and we don't know...



God the Holy ghost inspired Saint Paul to accuse Eve (NOT ADAM!) for the “Original Sin”™. Although he says that women will be saved only if they are good at making babies! Nuns need not to apply!



I Timothy 2:14-5 (NIV) And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner. BUT WOMEN WILL BE SAVED THROUGH CHILDBEARING – if (big “IF”!) they continue in faith, love and holiness with propriety.



So the "Original Sin"™ is about the BRIGHTEST IDEA that the Early Church Fathers came up with to instill a guilt feeling among the Christians for being born into this world with an "Original Sin
anonymous
2008-01-07 19:27:53 UTC
One criticism is that although she accepted millions of dollars in donations from people that wanted to help those in MT's care, she spent very little of it on her charges. In fact, the people under her care lived in appalling conditions.
anonymous
2008-01-07 19:33:03 UTC
Even if she weren't a fraud and a fake, the fact that she pushed an immoral religion to many ignorant and vulnerable people in her way too long life made her a total hypocritical old hag.
anonymous
2008-01-07 19:29:34 UTC
I guess not all people recognize living saints...Mother

Therese lived amongst the poor of India. She got her hands

dirty....That is a trait that most people won't do even for

their own relatives and she and the other saints that work

with her were not afraid....Another quality most people don't

have. Let's just say that the green-eyed serpent of jealousy

has reared it age old head again...
BiskwitMamaw
2008-01-07 19:26:24 UTC
It probably stems from her writings of doubt of the existence of God (look it up in yahoo or google)...but tell me, in this day and age, who hasn't done that once or twice? In my opinion, her inner struggle just made her more human and anyone who criticizes that is a true hypocrite.
anonymous
2008-01-07 19:27:40 UTC
Only an idiot would find something to criticize in a woman who spent her life devoted to Christ (that's probably their main issue, if they're honest) and working among the poorest people in the world - giving of herself tirelessly and selflessly.
witness
2008-01-07 19:25:06 UTC
Not really sure but what I do know is most everyone thought of her as a christian and she held the idea that there are many roads to heaven. The bible is clear that Jesus is the only way.
Deirdre H
2008-01-07 19:31:30 UTC
I haven't seen such books. The only "criticism" that I saw was that she experienced periods of doubt. So did the apostles.
Twist
2008-01-07 19:25:10 UTC
That she purposely didn't really help the poor to overcome their poverty, but allowed them to continue suffering as part of their atonement for christ.



That she did not allow the root causes of the poverty to be addressed, because pain and suffering are part of the salvation to get to christ.
hot.turkey
2008-01-07 19:25:00 UTC
Chris Hitchens could think of a few...
noitall
2008-01-07 19:25:27 UTC
unwillingness to save a life in real terms, rather than "saving" in christian terms is the key reason to deride this fraud
anonymous
2008-01-07 19:25:21 UTC
She believed that everyone should suffer in order to be closer to Jesus.
Jesus Freak
2008-01-07 19:24:54 UTC
Why do people thrive on strife and gossip, it is not of God, let people rest in peace
sapito
2008-01-07 19:26:10 UTC
we should just leave her alone---she was a good woman--I dated her for a while but she dumped me to go and take care of the less for tuned ones--
anonymous
2008-01-07 19:27:51 UTC
I think because she didn't believe, or doubted, the stuff she spent her life teaching.
Excite
2008-01-07 19:30:35 UTC
.

The hearsay is that in her own words she stated that as she became famous her faith decreased.



She succumbed to celebritism and knew it.

.
carolinasv
2008-01-07 19:24:56 UTC
She had a bad habit
bettyboop
2008-01-07 19:23:55 UTC
She was nothing but pure loving, and righteous, and people just LOVE to talk bad about Christians, don't they?
anonymous
2008-01-07 19:24:25 UTC
She was old...and probably had liver spots.
anonymous
2008-01-07 19:24:04 UTC
Because she professed atheism.
combatrocker88
2008-01-07 19:24:01 UTC
Not to attractive.
anonymous
2008-01-07 19:24:02 UTC
she confuses me, i see her face everywhere & i have NO idea who the hell she is.
Ash_Jx
2008-01-07 19:24:41 UTC
face it you can never please everyone
jiahua448
2008-01-07 19:29:44 UTC
she isn't moslem, JIHAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


This content was originally posted on Y! Answers, a Q&A website that shut down in 2021.
Loading...