Mother Teresa: Saint, Atheist — Or Possessed By The Devil? (believe, priest)
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Did Mother Teresa just have serious doubts about her faith from time to time, or was she a full-blown, closet atheist?
Also, is it true that the devil possessed this saintly Catholic nun on her deathbed — and that a special holy priest had to be summoned to exorcise Satan from Teresa?
Link to rest. (http://unresolvedcontroversy.com/2009/03/28/hello-world/ - broken link)
I have heard the same thing about her doubts. Regardless, to me, it is her actions that count. She is one of my heros - selfless, helping the truly needy etc. She stands in very sharp contrast with some of the so-called men of god - especially in the US - who are simply in the business of enriching themselves.
I find this to be in the category of urban ledges. To be possessed by the devil there would have to be such a thing as the devil. I don’t accept either the existence or ability of the lie to possess any person. It is just one more myth to add fear to religion. My view would be the Catholic Church is trying to make an excuse for her questioning god, and the Church.
Mother Teresa was smart enough to question religion and had enough vision to see the bull from Rome was political bull and nothing more. She accomplished her goals in spite the church not because of them, and for a change used them instead of being used by them. She stood out as a person of exceptional qualities, and she did bring a smile to me when I saw she also questioned religion.
I would take a good human over a religious saint any day of the week.
I find this to be in the category of urban ledges. To be possessed by the devil there would have to be such a thing as the devil. I don’t accept either the existence or ability of the lie to possess any person. It is just one more myth to add fear to religion. My view would be the Catholic Church is trying to make an excuse for her questioning god, and the Church.
Mother Teresa was smart enough to question religion and had enough vision to see the bull from Rome was political bull and nothing more. She accomplished her goals in spite the church not because of them, and for a change used them instead of being used by them. She stood out as a person of exceptional qualities, and she did bring a smile to me when I saw she also questioned religion.
I would take a good human over a religious saint any day of the week.
It is ironic that the powers (who fight to get the pope title, who live in a nice palace at Vatican etc) are the ones who get to grant sainthood to a person like Mother Teresa who had spent her entire life helping the truly helpless.
The Catholic church, like other religious organizations, will use her services to do more PR. Penn and Teller, though entertaining, are not real journalists that really dig deep - not that they are not often right. Unless someone publishes real dirt on MT in a serious medium (that excludes the likes of P/Teller or Fox), I will continue to have more respect for MT than I have even for her armchair atheist critics like Hitchens. To me, actions have a lot of value.
None of the above. Why would you ask such a silly question of a bunch of atheists?
She was a woman.
She had all the attributes and flaws of any human.
She spent her life doing a great amount of good in horrendous conditions.
She was a shameless self-promoter.
She used her fame to get more resources for her mission.
Apparently she privately had her doubts about this beneficent and all powerful god who didn't seem to help her or the people she tried to help one bit.
She is hardly the first person who doubted the god - even the bible is full of those stories. It is just that in the bible stories the god actually does something whereas in real life this god is completely silent and does nothing.
That she was silent with her doubts and/or questions is hardly surprising since she built her whole life and personna on being a Catholic nun. That would be very impolitic and she was a master politician.
There is no devil, there is only human action.
We will never know if she went all the way to thinking she was an atheist. She never said and she is dead now.
Why assume there is something magical when there are completely ordinary reasons for everything that happened?
Did Mother Teresa just have serious doubts about her faith from time to time, or was she a full-blown, closet atheist?
Also, is it true that the devil possessed this saintly Catholic nun on her deathbed — and that a special holy priest had to be summoned to exorcise Satan from Teresa?
Link to rest. (http://unresolvedcontroversy.com/2009/03/28/hello-world/ - broken link)
This is typical atheist abracadabra. For once, you guys balance those Christian nuts out.
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the Q is progressively weird.
