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A review by thisotherbookaccount
The Missionary Position by Christopher Hitchens
4.0
Everybody loves to witness a verbal beatdown, and no one did it better than Christopher Hitchens. While he was alive, the fierce contrarian and proud atheist was the star of multiple viral video compilations on YouTube, each showcasing his deft prowess during debates. Correcting — no, executing — people with overwhelming facts and logic was his way of showing complete dominance, and the internet lapped it all up. So when he passed away from oesophagus cancer a few years ago, the world lost one of the most prominent thinkers and speakers — someone who swam upstream, went against the grain and told the cold hard truths. Facts don't care about petty human emotions, and neither did Hitchens.
And in this book about Mother Teresa, he held nothing back.
I have no love for Mother Teresa, although my indifference, before reading this book, was ill-defined for the most part. Fuzzy, like reading signposts without my glasses. I knew that a set of personal letters had emerged some years ago, and how her faith was more like a front to the world at large — but that's as far as it went. Hypocrisy, though detestable, is not a crime. A crime, however, is, and Mother Teresa, judging by the evidence carefully research and presented by Hitchens in this book, is a true criminal indeed, or at least undeserving of the reputation (and sainthood) that she now enjoys in death.
In this book, Hitchens is clinical at dissecting Mother Teresa, including her supposed philanthropic efforts around the world, how the funds (in billions) were somehow directed away from those in need, as well as how some of her healthcare centres around the world had some of the worst track records when it came to mortality rates. The book outlined, underlined and highlighted my impression of Mother Teresa. Now, after reading this book, I do have a reason for my indifference and, in many ways, disdain. I mean, she's dead, so I guess it doesn't really matter, but I will certainly turn away charities that solicit funds, especially those with ties to this hypocritical religious zealot who 'whored' her name and image for the sake of widening her sphere of influence — not to mention that the poor and wretched were truly the ones that suffered, at the end of it all.
With that said, Hitchens being Hitchens, his arguments oftentimes went over my head. It comes with the territory, of course, and Hitchens did operate on a different level to us plebeians. However, a contrarian work as concise and deadly as this needs to exist, especially in a time when blind faith and trust continues to run rampant.
And in this book about Mother Teresa, he held nothing back.
I have no love for Mother Teresa, although my indifference, before reading this book, was ill-defined for the most part. Fuzzy, like reading signposts without my glasses. I knew that a set of personal letters had emerged some years ago, and how her faith was more like a front to the world at large — but that's as far as it went. Hypocrisy, though detestable, is not a crime. A crime, however, is, and Mother Teresa, judging by the evidence carefully research and presented by Hitchens in this book, is a true criminal indeed, or at least undeserving of the reputation (and sainthood) that she now enjoys in death.
In this book, Hitchens is clinical at dissecting Mother Teresa, including her supposed philanthropic efforts around the world, how the funds (in billions) were somehow directed away from those in need, as well as how some of her healthcare centres around the world had some of the worst track records when it came to mortality rates. The book outlined, underlined and highlighted my impression of Mother Teresa. Now, after reading this book, I do have a reason for my indifference and, in many ways, disdain. I mean, she's dead, so I guess it doesn't really matter, but I will certainly turn away charities that solicit funds, especially those with ties to this hypocritical religious zealot who 'whored' her name and image for the sake of widening her sphere of influence — not to mention that the poor and wretched were truly the ones that suffered, at the end of it all.
With that said, Hitchens being Hitchens, his arguments oftentimes went over my head. It comes with the territory, of course, and Hitchens did operate on a different level to us plebeians. However, a contrarian work as concise and deadly as this needs to exist, especially in a time when blind faith and trust continues to run rampant.