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October 22, 2003
Differing Perspectives
By QBlog in
I don't really know all that much about Mother Teresa or the Catholic Church. From all I've been told, MT was a great woman who devoted her life to helping those less fortunate. Needless to say, I was somewhat shocked when I read this account of MT by Christopher Hitchens in Slate. He dares to call her a "fraud" and then devotes his column to "prove" that she's getting much more praise than she deserves (in light of her recent beatification). I don't know much about all this so I'm not sure what to believe but Hitchens reveals some details that at least help me understand why some in the Catholic Church are opposed to her canonization.
What does this have to do with Quixtar? Nothing directly. Except that it illustrates to me that everything is not always as it seems and that it's important to keep an open mind. I'm not really a fan of Hitchens but does that mean I shouldn't look into his rather proposterous claims? Not at all. Maybe there's some truth to them. Maybe not. The question I ask myself is "what if the claims are true and I did nothing?"
Of course I'm talking about principles here and not really the issue of Mother Teresa. I honestly don't care if she's canonized or not. That's not the point of what I'm saying. The point is that there is merit in maintaining an open mind.
While I agree that one should maintain an open mind of such things, allowing the Christopher Hitchens of the world to enter one's open mind would be a mistake. Why should he care whether the Church canonizes Mother Teresa, he's a Jew (Hutchins mother is of Polish Jew descent). Additionally, as a British national we can assume he has a cultural disdain for Catholics in general. The fact that he takes this on with such passion without being Catholic would make me suspicious of his motives and dismissive of his opinions.
Posted by: Dave's Buddy | October 22, 2003 5:08 PM