Sept. 5 marked the one-year anniversary of Agnes Bojaxhiu`s death. Her life was a phenomenon like no other.Millions of people have bought into the myth that she was a benevolent humanitarian. In reality, the neurotic little woman from Yugoslavia, better known as Mother Teresa, was a hideous monster. She was an unprincipled thief who contributed to the world`s suffering in the name of her delusional mysticism. In short, she was a disgusting human and the world is a better place with her absence.Many of you reading this article may be shocked to hear such words spoken about a public figure whose very name is synonymous with compassion and moral excellence. I can understand your apprehension in reevaluating the image of Mother Teresa. At one time I also held the popular view that she exemplified the best in human nature. That was before I bothered to actually examine her history.Despite prevailing assumptions, Mother Teresa`s cult, the Missionaries of Charity, was a well-funded organization whose assets nearly rivaled the GNP of small nations. In spite of their great hordes of wealth, Mother Teresa was always on the lookout for the next large donation to fund her empire. One of her mega-donations came from a man named Charles Keating. Keating, as many of you may recall, was convicted of stealing a quarter of a billion dollars from investors in a fraudulent bond selling scheme. Many of his victims were hardworking middle-class individuals who lost their entire life savings.These pesky details didn’t bother Mother Teresa. She wrote to the judge presiding over Keating`s trial and asked for leniency because Keating was “kind and generous to God`s poor.” Never mind that the money he donated didn’t belong to him in the first place. When the deputy district attorney for Los Angeles became aware of Keating`s donations he wrote a personal letter to Mother Teresa asking her to return the stolen money so he could redistribute it to Keating`s victims. In the letter he wrote, “Ask yourself what Jesus would do if he were given the fruits of a crime; what Jesus would do if he were in possession of money that had been stolen; what Jesus would do if he were being exploited by a thief to ease his conscience?” Mother Teresa`s answer was to ignore the letter and keep the money.Many of you may forgive her ethical misgivings because of the assumption that overall she helped improve the world. Nothing could be further from the truth. Bojaxhiu was more interested in instituting mythological dogma than providing for the common good. The most striking example was her view on overpopulation and birth control. Despite Calcutta’s vivid illustration of overpopulation at work, Agnes staunchly advocated the global prohibition of birth control. She once remarked, “There can never be enough children,” because, “God will provide.” An opinion alone is harmless, but when it emanates from the mouth of a “living Saint” it has a great deal of influence. Her antiquated ramblings contributed to, rather than alleviated, one of the most pressing problems of our time.At this point, you may agree that her financial dealings were shady and her politics dated. You still may believe however, that she was dedicated to easing the suffering of the “poorest of the poor.” This is also a fallacy. Bojaxhiu often remarked that suffering was “beautiful” and that “the world is being much helped by the suffering of the poor people.” She was more concerned with her patient’s next life than their current one and utilized agony as an instrument for conversion. As a rule she frowned upon pain relief medication and instead focused her energy on secretly baptizing patients while pretending to cool them down with a wet towel.Agnes Bojaxhiu (aka Mother Teresa) escaped public scrutiny by ascribing to a popular faith.
Robert Nekervis can be reached at [email protected]. His column appears infrequently in the Lantern.
