The New York Times
February 8, 1995
Critic's Notebook
A Skeptical Look at Mother Teresa
By Walter Goodman
Christopher Hitchens tells in the February Vanity Fair of
the furious reaction to a television program he wrote last
year for Channel 4 in Britain as part of a series about
"inflated and bogus reputations." The program was called
"Hell's Angel." The article is titled "Mother Teresa and
Me."
"Bogus?" "Inflated?" Mother Teresa! I had to see that show,
and Mr. Hitchens kindly sent me a tape. It lived up to the
billing. For a half-hour the nun is portrayed as a creation
of "hyperbole and credulity." Mr. Hitchens, an Englishman
of leftish leanings who resides in Washington, says her
reputation was baptized by a 1969 BBC program "Something
Beautiful for God," that portrayed her mission to India's
newly born and dying in worshipful tones. ("A star is
born," cracks Mr. Hitchens.) And 10 years later she
received the Nobel Peace Prize.
Although reviewing programs that have little prospect of
being shown in the United States does not ordinarily seem
useful, "Hell's Angel" invites attention because there is
so little prospect. In a season of complaints about the
adversarial tendencies and the antireligious slant of
television, it is still difficult to imagine an American
network or cable station going after so esteemed a
religious personage. If anybody is a television
untouchable, it is Mother Teresa.
Acceptable religious targets here are pretty much limited
to child molesters and fundamentalists with outright
political ambitions or inclinations toward mayhem. As for
PBS even the hint of its carrying such an attack would
bring a bolt of Congressional lightning.
Consider what Mr. Hitchens, who visited Mother Teresa's
Calcutta orphanage in 1980, has to say about the woman. By
his accounting, she is "a demagogue, an obscurantist and a
servant of earthly powers," whose central message to the
wretched of India and elsewhere is a denunciation of
abbrtion and contraception.
She is shown, wizened face piously bowed, not only
accepting honors from respectable right-wing heads of state
like Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher but also
consorting with disreputable figures like Jean-Claude
Duvalier, the deposed Haitian dictator, and paying tribute
to the late Enver Hoxha, the long-time proto-Stalinist boss
of Albania, Mother Teresa's birthplace. The program's
implication is that Mother Teresa gives more unto Caesar
than is strictly required by Scripture.
In a somewhat self-complimenting summation, Mr. Hitchens,
the on-camera prosecutor, says, "The profane marriage
between tawdry media hype and medieval superstition gave
birth to an icon which few have had the poor taste to
question." Be assured that he does not allow taste to get
in his way as he chops at the icon: Mr. Hitchens reveals
that his preferred title was "Sacred Cow."
"Hell's Angel" would have benefited from more reporting on
what exactly goes on in those Calcutta orphanages and
hospices. It is possible, after all, that even an opponent
of abortion might give tender care to her charges. All that
is offered here is the testimony of a disaffected
volunteer.
Yet there is enough to stir the juices of a producer who is
bored with examining the usual suspects. Kicking Pat
Robertson around is soft duty compared to a skeptical
inspection of a universally admired Nobelist.
Mr. Hitchens's phrasings ("a roving ambassador of a highly
politicized papacy") may be a touch sharp for a mass
audience, and he could be picking on Mother Teresa simply
because he doesn't like her politics or her church. All the
more reason, now that such charges have been aired, for
sending a crew to Calcutta to see whether he failed to give
credit where it is due.
How good or bad is the care? Where does the Mother Teresa
multinational obtain its money and on what is it spent? It
could turn out that despite Mr. Hitchens's animadversions,
the lady is a saint.
Paying attention. "60 Minutes?"
END
February 8, 1995
Critic's Notebook
A Skeptical Look at Mother Teresa
By Walter Goodman
Christopher Hitchens tells in the February Vanity Fair of
the furious reaction to a television program he wrote last
year for Channel 4 in Britain as part of a series about
"inflated and bogus reputations." The program was called
"Hell's Angel." The article is titled "Mother Teresa and
Me."
"Bogus?" "Inflated?" Mother Teresa! I had to see that show,
and Mr. Hitchens kindly sent me a tape. It lived up to the
billing. For a half-hour the nun is portrayed as a creation
of "hyperbole and credulity." Mr. Hitchens, an Englishman
of leftish leanings who resides in Washington, says her
reputation was baptized by a 1969 BBC program "Something
Beautiful for God," that portrayed her mission to India's
newly born and dying in worshipful tones. ("A star is
born," cracks Mr. Hitchens.) And 10 years later she
received the Nobel Peace Prize.
Although reviewing programs that have little prospect of
being shown in the United States does not ordinarily seem
useful, "Hell's Angel" invites attention because there is
so little prospect. In a season of complaints about the
adversarial tendencies and the antireligious slant of
television, it is still difficult to imagine an American
network or cable station going after so esteemed a
religious personage. If anybody is a television
untouchable, it is Mother Teresa.
Acceptable religious targets here are pretty much limited
to child molesters and fundamentalists with outright
political ambitions or inclinations toward mayhem. As for
PBS even the hint of its carrying such an attack would
bring a bolt of Congressional lightning.
Consider what Mr. Hitchens, who visited Mother Teresa's
Calcutta orphanage in 1980, has to say about the woman. By
his accounting, she is "a demagogue, an obscurantist and a
servant of earthly powers," whose central message to the
wretched of India and elsewhere is a denunciation of
abbrtion and contraception.
She is shown, wizened face piously bowed, not only
accepting honors from respectable right-wing heads of state
like Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher but also
consorting with disreputable figures like Jean-Claude
Duvalier, the deposed Haitian dictator, and paying tribute
to the late Enver Hoxha, the long-time proto-Stalinist boss
of Albania, Mother Teresa's birthplace. The program's
implication is that Mother Teresa gives more unto Caesar
than is strictly required by Scripture.
In a somewhat self-complimenting summation, Mr. Hitchens,
the on-camera prosecutor, says, "The profane marriage
between tawdry media hype and medieval superstition gave
birth to an icon which few have had the poor taste to
question." Be assured that he does not allow taste to get
in his way as he chops at the icon: Mr. Hitchens reveals
that his preferred title was "Sacred Cow."
"Hell's Angel" would have benefited from more reporting on
what exactly goes on in those Calcutta orphanages and
hospices. It is possible, after all, that even an opponent
of abortion might give tender care to her charges. All that
is offered here is the testimony of a disaffected
volunteer.
Yet there is enough to stir the juices of a producer who is
bored with examining the usual suspects. Kicking Pat
Robertson around is soft duty compared to a skeptical
inspection of a universally admired Nobelist.
Mr. Hitchens's phrasings ("a roving ambassador of a highly
politicized papacy") may be a touch sharp for a mass
audience, and he could be picking on Mother Teresa simply
because he doesn't like her politics or her church. All the
more reason, now that such charges have been aired, for
sending a crew to Calcutta to see whether he failed to give
credit where it is due.
How good or bad is the care? Where does the Mother Teresa
multinational obtain its money and on what is it spent? It
could turn out that despite Mr. Hitchens's animadversions,
the lady is a saint.
Paying attention. "60 Minutes?"
END