Recently, the RSS chief Bhagwat had this to say about Mother Teresa.
“Mother Teresa’s service would have been good. But it used to have one objective, to convert the person, who was being served, into a Christian,” he said while speaking at a function organised near Bharatpur by NGO Apna Ghar. “The question is not about conversion but if this [conversion] is done in the name of service, then that service gets devalued,” he said. “But here [at the NGO], the objective is purely service of poor and helpless people,” Mr Bhagwat added.
Source: "http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/mother-teresas-aim-was-conversion-says-bhagwat/article6926462.ece"
Many "noble-hearted" congressmen from India were full of tears immediately and asked Narendra Modi, the BJP, the RSS, the Bajrang Dal and everybody except themselves to apologize to everybody. My equally-noble fellow Indians immediately were up in arms thinking that this was the first time somebody dared to speak out against a noble soul and a "secular" government would have prevented such speeches from happening.
Here is an interesting post from the Washington Post blogs (just 3 hrs ago as of this writing).
Washington Post
and it says
"Many who support Mother Teresa dispute these accounts, of course, but they exist and are frequently debated. In fact, when compared to the criticism that already exists about Mother Teresa and the Missionaries of Charity, Bhagwat's words look relatively meek: Multiple accounts say that Mother Teresa's nuns would baptize the dying and she had a reputation for proselytizing."
I posted a link Bhagwat's comments on my facebook account (I only posted and I have a mixed opinion on what he said) and some of my friends commented on the post.
One of them says, "service to human ,is service to God. i hope mother Teresa has not forced any body to convert. Every human being has the God given 6th sense to analyse what is right and wrong and to accept the logical and deny illogical matters. RELIGIOUS CONVERSION IS PERSONAL IT IS A MATTER OF ACCCEPTING A FAITH ON THE BASIS OF SCIENCE, LOGIC AND WISDOM. No body has the right to force any one to convert."
My friend, force can be physical or emotional. What if you had a pleasing voice and told someone that one cannot attain salvation unless one follows your religion? Is that forcing?
Another says " Lol. There is fact and there is speculation!" and follows that up with this "Now here is a fact - hard data Indian Express
A summary of that "hard data" can be found here
"
There were 745 Mother Teresa homes across the world and 19 in Kolkata. Over 90 per cent of all those who are treated at these homes are non-Christians,” spokesperson Sunita Kumar said.
Claiming that Bhagwat was misinformed, she added: “Among the Kolkata homes, Nirmal Hriday in Kalighat, Prem Dan near Park Circus railway station and Shanti Daan in Tangra are the prominent ones. When children are abandoned at hospitals and come to these homes, they are told about the faith they belong to. Only if abandoned children are found on the streets and their religion cannot be determined, they are raised as Christians.”
(1) How does this statement qualify as hard data? Just because they put a number (90%)to it?
(2) Assuming that I agree to this data, I ask "Yes. In India, you are supposed to find a huge percentage of Hindus from a random population (about 80%). The rest(10%), I assume is non-Hindu, non -Christian? ... Yes!. The point is not who you serve, it is what your motive is.. Obviously you need not convert the 10% non-non-Christians".
(3) What I think of Mother Teresa... I think she and her organization have done great work in alleviating the sufferings of the poor and it is not easy to do.... But, it DOES NOT change the fact that one of her/her organization's motives was to convert. She may call it "illuminate people's lives by showing them the only way to salvation" etc etc... but .......
I also encourage you to read this if you want to...
http://www.oshoworld.com/biography/innercontent.asp?FileName=biography7/07-67-teresa.txt
“Mother Teresa’s service would have been good. But it used to have one objective, to convert the person, who was being served, into a Christian,” he said while speaking at a function organised near Bharatpur by NGO Apna Ghar. “The question is not about conversion but if this [conversion] is done in the name of service, then that service gets devalued,” he said. “But here [at the NGO], the objective is purely service of poor and helpless people,” Mr Bhagwat added.
Source: "http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/mother-teresas-aim-was-conversion-says-bhagwat/article6926462.ece"
Many "noble-hearted" congressmen from India were full of tears immediately and asked Narendra Modi, the BJP, the RSS, the Bajrang Dal and everybody except themselves to apologize to everybody. My equally-noble fellow Indians immediately were up in arms thinking that this was the first time somebody dared to speak out against a noble soul and a "secular" government would have prevented such speeches from happening.
Here is an interesting post from the Washington Post blogs (just 3 hrs ago as of this writing).
Washington Post
and it says
"Many who support Mother Teresa dispute these accounts, of course, but they exist and are frequently debated. In fact, when compared to the criticism that already exists about Mother Teresa and the Missionaries of Charity, Bhagwat's words look relatively meek: Multiple accounts say that Mother Teresa's nuns would baptize the dying and she had a reputation for proselytizing."
I posted a link Bhagwat's comments on my facebook account (I only posted and I have a mixed opinion on what he said) and some of my friends commented on the post.
One of them says, "service to human ,is service to God. i hope mother Teresa has not forced any body to convert. Every human being has the God given 6th sense to analyse what is right and wrong and to accept the logical and deny illogical matters. RELIGIOUS CONVERSION IS PERSONAL IT IS A MATTER OF ACCCEPTING A FAITH ON THE BASIS OF SCIENCE, LOGIC AND WISDOM. No body has the right to force any one to convert."
My friend, force can be physical or emotional. What if you had a pleasing voice and told someone that one cannot attain salvation unless one follows your religion? Is that forcing?
Another says " Lol. There is fact and there is speculation!" and follows that up with this "Now here is a fact - hard data Indian Express
A summary of that "hard data" can be found here
"
There were 745 Mother Teresa homes across the world and 19 in Kolkata. Over 90 per cent of all those who are treated at these homes are non-Christians,” spokesperson Sunita Kumar said.
Claiming that Bhagwat was misinformed, she added: “Among the Kolkata homes, Nirmal Hriday in Kalighat, Prem Dan near Park Circus railway station and Shanti Daan in Tangra are the prominent ones. When children are abandoned at hospitals and come to these homes, they are told about the faith they belong to. Only if abandoned children are found on the streets and their religion cannot be determined, they are raised as Christians.”
(1) How does this statement qualify as hard data? Just because they put a number (90%)to it?
(2) Assuming that I agree to this data, I ask "Yes. In India, you are supposed to find a huge percentage of Hindus from a random population (about 80%). The rest(10%), I assume is non-Hindu, non -Christian? ... Yes!. The point is not who you serve, it is what your motive is.. Obviously you need not convert the 10% non-non-Christians".
(3) What I think of Mother Teresa... I think she and her organization have done great work in alleviating the sufferings of the poor and it is not easy to do.... But, it DOES NOT change the fact that one of her/her organization's motives was to convert. She may call it "illuminate people's lives by showing them the only way to salvation" etc etc... but .......
I also encourage you to read this if you want to...
http://www.oshoworld.com/biography/innercontent.asp?FileName=biography7/07-67-teresa.txt
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