Mother Theresa was an Atheist after all?

Question

Hey, have you heard the news? Mother Theresa had spiritual doubts which she shared only with her spiritual advisers. She even pronounced the words "I have no faith." She was in doubt about religion for the last 50 years of her life.

http://archives.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/asiapcf/south/09/06/excerpts.mother.theresa/index.html

Hmm, could it be that Atheists like Mother Theresa can engage in charitable works too, that you don't need religion or faith to be good?

cadisney76, how can a religious person "have no faith"? We must presume the most about Mother Theresa because there is huge, deadly pressure when you are in a religion to conform. People only express their hatred of the religion of their peers in wills, much like celebrities in the Soviet Union condemned Communism only in their wills.

And as for the stupid, stupid Fundamentalists who say that what Mother Theresa was doubting was the satanic Catholic faith, which I believe you deride as the "Babylon Mystery Religion", your sectarian bigotry is beneath contempt. I've never seen a Fundamentalist televangelist drop everything and work directly on the poor in India with no provision for a mansion back home...

Answer 1

The fact of the matter is, whether theist or atheist, "mother" Teresa was a fraud. She did not do anything to help the poor. Rather, the money she collected, ostensibly to help the poor, went into the Vatican's coffers, or into spreading her religion.

Even some of the nuns who worked with her were disappointed by her, and that's something considering that they must have started out thinking of her as a "saint."

http://www.randi.org/jr/102502.html
Is a Mother Teresa-inspired miracle that's been recognized by the Vatican a complete and utter fraud? Absolutely, says the husband of a woman whose purported tumor vanished after she applied a medallion of the beloved nun to the site of her pain. "My wife was cured by the doctors and not by any miracle," Seiku Besra told Time magazine.

http://www.secularhumanism.org/index.php?section=library&page=shields_18_ 1
When Mother spoke publicly, she never asked for money, but she did encourage people to make sacrifices for the poor, to "give until it hurts." Many people did - and they gave it to her. We received touching letters from people, sometimes apparently poor themselves, who were making sacrifices to send us a little money for the starving people in Africa, the flood victims in Bangladesh, or the poor children in India. Most of the money sat in our bank accounts.

http://www.salon.com/sept97/news/news3970905.html
What about her celebrated concern for the poor and the weak? Here the record is much murkier than her saintly image would suggest. I have been shown testimony from leading American and British physicians, expressing their concern at the extremely low standard of medicine practiced in her small Calcutta clinics. No pain killers, syringes washed in cold water, a fatalistic attitude toward death and a strict regimen for the patients. No public accounts were made available by her "missionaries of Charity" but enormous sums are known to have been raised. The income from such awards as the Nobel Prize is alone enough to maintain a sizable operation. In one on-the-record interview, Mother Teresa spoke with pride of having opened more than 500 convents in 125 countries, "not counting India." It seemed more than probable that money donated by well-wishers for the relief of suffering was being employed for the purpose of religious proselytizing by the "missionary multinational."

Answer 2

She was not. She simply had doubts at times but that is completely normal for H. sapiens sapiens (since you seem to like to sound technical and all by using "big words" (although you're right about the televangelists )). ALL people, including believers, have doubts and that's because we're something called humans, okay? Now that we've settled that, the fact that this has come out only serves to reassure everyone that having doubts is not a sin and that she was not in any way better off in this life than us (e.g. like being one of God's favorite). So, if she was able to lead a good life so can we, in as much as we turn to God for aid. Besides, these letters were gathered by the people who want Mother Theresa to be be canonized.

Answer 3

I've been hearing about this idea that Mother Theresa was actually an Atheist. But that letter doesn't sound like an Atheist so much as it sounds like a human being who has seen so much suffering that seems endless, has been taught that God removes all suffering, heals all wounds and rights all wrongs and is coming to the realization that God probably doesn't work that way.

As a Roman Catholic nun, one who was considered nearly a saint before she died, I can imagine how much she must have suffered knowing she was seen as the perfect Catholic when she began to doubt the things that the Catholic church taught her. For a Catholic that is bad, but for a nun? for Mother Theresa!

With all of the suffering she saw, and so few solutions, so little help and nothing on the horizon but growing numbers of sick, dead, people hopelessly poverty-stricken, who the hell wouldn't begin to question or lose their faith?

I actually admire the fact that she was honest with herself and others about her feelings. I doubt that most would be or indeed are so honest about their doubts.

And why would anyone believe that you need religion to be a good person? And again, she doesn't sound like an Atheist. She sounds like a far-far-beyond-tired, demoralized, very very sad and very very ANGRY Christian.

And frankly, given who has been saying that she was actually some money grubbing horror of a person, I take those accounts with a whopping grain of salt. Give me a break. You'd think the woman was secretly living in a castle and driving a fleet of Bentleys around Bangladesh!

Answer 4

Mother Theresa was not an Atheist. For the first two years of her ministry, she experienced many "consolations". Then, she entered what is called "the dark night of the soul". The soul may be tortured with doubt at this time. But did she falter in her prayers? No. In her duties of charity? No. In her decision to follow Jesus despite the darkness of soul she was experiencing those years? No. She stayed the course.
She received daily communion. She prayed (minimum) 3 hours per morning. She kept the faith, but the dark night of the soul was so agonizing to her that it must have seemed to her that she had no faith. However, all who worked with her tell of a strong, determined woman who often repeated thoughout her life "All for Jesus". And, the last two years of her life, she came out of the "dark night of the soul" and regained the joy of the faith.
An Atheist? Hardly. In fact, the Catholic Church has just beatified her (she is now called "Blessed Mother Theresa").

Answer 5

Don't you think it's a bit of stretch to assume she an atheist? Based on your source which contained excerpts taken completely out of context, she was praying to God the Father. Why would she bother to pray if she didn't believe in a higher power? Not surprised she doubted God, given the life she lead. Fighting an uphill battle to help the poor with no end insight. Most believers do at one point or another. It's human to doubt God. It doesn't make you a sudden atheist. Would the Catholic church nominate her for Sainthood if they thought she was renouncing her faith? Many other letters and sources from other Saints, martyrs and religious figures have expressed doubt. Must be lonely feeling like the only one who gives a **** about helping other people.

Answer 6

Wow now because Mother Theresa questioned her personal beliefs, which a lot of christians do at one point, she is an atheist. Are you that desperate to find atheists that you have to turn mother theresa into one? Whoever said that atheists couldnt engage in charitable works?

Answer 7

She wasn't an atheist, she believed in God. She doubted her faith, actually what she doubted was the beliefs she grew up believing in, in other words, she obviously doubted the Catholic religious beliefs which didn't obviously bring her the Holy Spirit. She was still a very good person in that she helped others and God will resurrect her through his Son, Jesus Christ and then she will have the opportunity to learn the truth. She was a person, like many, of faith, but not in accurate knowledge.

Answer 8

It is true. Some years ago, I was in Milwaukee with a good friend of mine. We came upon a homeless woman who had no coat and it was 30 degrees outside. My friend took his coat off and gave it to the woman. Another woman who saw this take place told my friend that "God would bless him for this". My friend replied "Lady, I don't believe in God or blessings. I gave that woman because she was cold and needed it and I have another coat at home".

Answer 9

Mother Theresa was neither charitable nor particularly good, whether she had faith or not.

Answer 10

Ten years ago, the two biggest saints in our present world were taken away from us, just a week apart from each other.

Mother Teresa and Princess Di

Does it matter if either an atheist or a theist is the doer of good deeds?