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March 30, 2006
Statue of Mother Teresa 'Would offend the feelings of Muslims' (Updated)
Topics: Understanding IslamMuslims in Albania's northern city of Shkoder are opposing plans to erect a statue to Mother Teresa, the ethnic Albanian Catholic nun in line for elevation to sainthood by the Vatican.
Will one of my many Muslim friends please help me understand just how a statue of Mother Teresa of Calcutta "offends the feelings" of Muslims?
"Mother" Teresa was born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu of Albanian parents in what is now Yugoslavia/Bosnia on August 27, 1910. She died of a heart attack on September 5, 1997. She arrived in India on January 6, 1929, where she started assisting the needy and eventually established the now-global "Missionaries of Charity" organization. Ultimately, more than 500 missions in 100 countries were established. Yet, "Mother" Teresa, and those who worked with her, never tried to convert to Christ the dying people for whom they cared.
Instead, "Mother" Teresa declared:
"There is only one God and He is God to all; therefore it is important that everyone is seen as equal before God. I've always said we should help a Hindu become a better Hindu, a Muslim become a better Muslim, a Catholic become a better Catholic. We believe our work should be our example to people. We have among us 475 souls - 30 families are Catholics and the rest are all Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs--all different religions. But they all come to our prayers."If this is offensive to Muslims, I fear the world community has little potential to address all the sensitivities of what appears to be a culture of very sensitive feelings.
We're talking about a lady that loved and cared for as many non-Christians, many of whom were Muslims, as she did Christians. If one can't love and respect those that have shown such love and respect, what is one's faith all about? Forget theology here, we're talking about love, kindness, appreciation, caring, respect, and recognition of those that are these very things.
Offended by Mother Teresa? Please, give me a break. Join the world!
Welcome update from a later story: Muslim group says Mother Teresa statue OK despite objections
Albania's largest Muslim group said Monday that placing a bust of Mother Teresa in a northern city would not damage religious harmony, rejecting claims from smaller Muslim associations.
Looks like the mainstream Muslims stepped up to the plate - this time. Hope to see this become a trend rather than an exception.
Related: MOTHER TERESA TAKES PRO-LIFE MESSAGE TO SUPREME COURT
Mother Teresa's petition is a powerful witness in defense of life. It includes the following passage:
"America needs no words from me to see how your decision in Roe vs. Wade has deformed a great nation. The so-called right to abortion has pitted mothers against their children and women against men. It has sown violence and discord at the heart of the most intimate human relationships. It has aggravated the derogation of the father's role in an increasingly fatherless society. It has portrayed the greatest of gifts--a child--as a competitor, an intrusion and an inconvenience. It has nominally accorded mothers unfettered dominion over the dependent lives of their physically dependent sons and daughters. And, in granting this unconscionable power, it has exposed many women to unjust and selfish demands from their husbands or other sexual partners.
"Human rights are not a privilege conferred by government," she said. "They are every human being's entitlement by virtue of his humanity. The right to life does not depend, and must not be contingent, on the pleasure of anyone else, not even a parent or sovereign. The Constitutional Court of the Federal Republic of Germany recently ruled: 'The unborn child is entitled to its right to life independently of its acceptance by its mother; this is an elementary and inalienable right which emanates from the dignity of the human being.'
"Americans may feel justly proud that Germany in 1993 was able to recognize the sanctity of human life. You must weep that your own government, at present, seems blind to this truth."
Posted by Richard at March 30, 2006 8:39 AM
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