The Missionary Position
by Christopher Hitchens · first published 1995
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Recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, feted by politicians, the Church and the world's media, Mother Teresa of Calcutta appears to be on the fast track to sainthood. But what, asks Christopher Hitchens, makes Mother Teresa so divine? In a frank expose of the Teresa cult, Hitchens details the nature and limits of one woman's mission to the world's poor. He probes the source of the heroic status bestowed upon an Albanian nun whose only declared wish is to serve God. He asks whether Mother Teresa's good works answer any higher purpose than the need of the world's privileged to see someone, somewher
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Yes she is. You've clearly never read The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa In Theory And Practice, by Christopher Hitchens. Mother Teresa was pure evil. You should read up on how she intentionally tortured dying people by denying them basic pain killers. How…
on “Can You Call a 9-Year-Old a Psychopath?” ↗…trying to make this political, but please do more reading about "Mother" Teresa before quoting her as an inspiration: http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/fighting_wor..., http://www.amazon.com/Missionary-Position-Mother-Teresa-Prac... and http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-03/uom-mta022813... .
on “Show HN: My new project - ask.io” ↗The first time I read Christopher Hitchens was his takedown of Mother Teresa - "The Missionary Position". It was emblematic of his writing - shocking, irreverent, but beautifully written and argued. The most intellectually honest pundit I have ever read - even when I disagreed with him. Sad to see him go.
on “In Memoriam: Christopher Hitchens, 1949–2011” ↗There's a short book by Christopher Hitchens called The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice, which does go into her dirty dealings and doings. Recommended read, as it may very well change your mind again.
on “The Nobel Peace Prize 2022” ↗…intellectually exchange rational arguments. Then in at least one case Hitchens showed a shocking "unwillingness" to debate: In his debate about Mother Theresa with Simon Leys, triggered by his book titled "The Missionary Position", Hitchens said "he describes the title of my book as “obscene,” [...] Would he care to say where the obscenity lies?". This was a killer to me. Never could see him again as someone whose writing could…
on “In Memoriam: Christopher Hitchens, 1949–2011” ↗…am an agnostic myself, I even think this title was a good catch. But you don't seem to address my point, which is that Hitchens denies the implications and sexual connotation of calling his book "The Missionary Position", which is bad faith. He could have skip the point, or just said he was sorry Simon Leys didn't like it, but saying it is nowhere obscene is plain insincere.
on “In Memoriam: Christopher Hitchens, 1949–2011” ↗…as 'obscene,' and complains that it attacks someone who is 'elderly.' Would he care to say where the obscenity lies?" Hitchens knows what he is doing. Most people nowadays don't think the phrase "The Missionary Position" is obscene. Slightly tittilating, yes, but obscene, no. Unfortunately, Leys cannot discriminate the subtlety and smugness in Hitchens's small linguistic victory, and responds blithely and indelicately.…
on “In Memoriam: Christopher Hitchens, 1949–2011” ↗Not a word about Hitchens? He had been writing about this for over 20 years. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Missionary_Position
on “The big lie about Mother Teresa: glorifying suffering instead of relieving it” ↗Things are not changing. This is exactly what Christopher Hitchens described in "The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice." The purpose of this hospital is to promote Vatican and Catholicism. Treating children is secondary.
on “AP Investigation of the Vatican's Children Hospital” ↗If you read Christopher Hitchens' book The Missionary Position, you'll discover that Theresa was quite the sadist. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58664511-the-missionary-...
on “Half a Million Kinksters Can't Be Wrong” ↗…facilities.[122][123] >One of Mother Teresa's most outspoken critics was English journalist and antitheist Christopher Hitchens, host of the documentary Hell's Angel (1994) and author of the essay The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice (1995) who wrote in a 2003 article: "This returns us to the medieval corruption of the church, which sold indulgences to the rich while preaching hellfire and continence…
on “How Thomas Edison Tricked the Press into Believing He’d Invented the Light Bulb” ↗