Apparently there's a new book of letters from Blessed Teresa of Calcutta, better known as Mother Teresa, in which it becomes clear that
her faith left her upon her arrival in Calcutta.
Where is my faith? Even deep down ... there is nothing but emptiness and darkness ... If there be God—please forgive me.
I truly have no idea how to process this information. But I feel certain that Christopher Hitchens is sharpening his poison pen—the one which gave us the obnoxious atheist screed
God is Not Great and the cold-blooded monograph
The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice.
You're right about Hitchens. I saw him fulminating on YouTube last night.
ReplyDeleteAs a former Catholic, the only way I can explain it is that she would have lived Boëthius' Consolation of Philosophy, having a "dark night of the soul" for most of her life only to rediscover her faith at the very end.
Catholics believe that salvation doesn't come about by faith alone, but that good works must come into it as well. Theoretically, you could probably have the good works without the faith and that's probably why Catholics aren't at all upset about the recent news that Mother Theresa lost her faith.
It's too bad that Bill Donahue character doesn't explain anything very well. He actually makes Hitchens look good by comparison.
It is rather frustrating that the most prominent voices for atheism at the moment are Hitchens and Maher, each problematic in their own way. (I once saw an interview of Ann Coulter by Bill Maher in which Coulter was the more rational, polite, and pleasant member of the conversation. It was quite astonishing.)
ReplyDeleteI think that the less obnoxious idea that can be reaffirmed by this is that morality and goodness do not require god.