I don’t know either, but I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that Mother Theresa is a flawed human being. Because, surprise, human beings are flawed. Maybe some people don’t mind the fact that she uses the money people donate to her for building up the Catholic church instead of building hospitals or clinics or buying medicine for the poor. Maybe she believes this is the best thing for the common good. Or maybe she is only concerned with establishing her place in history. Also, Hitchens doesn’t merely reduce her to a money-grubbing cult leader – “although I think there are many fraudulent things about Mother Teresa, I also think there are many authentic things about her.” He simply points out that the way she is seen by many is inaccurate and overly idealistic. He uses the chasm between the way she is willing to forgive and even commend Princess Diana for getting a divorce and the way she works tirelessly to condemn all forms of divorce, even in the most extreme cases of sexual abuse, in order to highlight the difficulty in assessing her singularly.

One other thing. Is it true that many Christians believe that the suffering of the poor is beautiful and that the nobility of the world is helped by it? While I know that tragedy can bring a sense of greater moral clarity (for instance, after 9/11), I hope that this point was an exaggeration. The idea that God appoints people to a life of poverty in order to serve as an example for the rest of us makes me incredibly angry. I don’t see how anyone could accept a God like that. The only reason that kind of a view would be propagated is a very cynical manipulation by the church. “Go to church, pray, give us your money, and know that you will be rewarded in the next life for your suffering.” To the extent that such a belief exists, I agree 100% that it is evil.

In fact, I think this might be part of a fundamental difference in values-systems between believers and non-believers. If you believe in an afterlife, then some of the facts Hitchens “exposes” about Mother Theresa don’t seem so bad. She is using her reputation to expand the church as much as possible in order to bring God to the most people possible. After their Christian deaths they will be rewarded in the afterlife. If you do not, it is incredibly wrong-headed. That money could be spent directly on caring for the living, improving their lives as much as possible so their brief time on earth will be as positive and as long as possible.