Indian rationalists denounce Mother Teresa miracle, complain to police By Krittivas Mukherjee, Indo-Asian News Service
Kolkata, Oct 17 (IANS) A group of rationalists Friday demonstrated against a miracle attributed to Mother Teresa that is being cited by the Vatican for her beatification. The rationalists also lodged a complaint with the police, urging action to stop "propaganda" about the miracle and "take action" against Sister Nirmala, who heads the Missionaries of Charity order set up by Mother Teresa. "We ask the church not to sully the image of Mother Teresa by attributing to her false claims of miracles," Prabir Ghosh, general secretary of Science and Rationalists' Association of India, said at a street side meeting. The rationalists have described as "bunkum" the claim that an Indian tribal woman was cured of a tubercular tumour after she prayed to the revered nun in 1998. The Pope has approved the miracle of Mother Teresa and is set to beatify her on Sunday in Rome, taking her a step closer to sainthood. The rationalists distributed pamphlets to passers-by in a congested eastern Kolkata locality. "Do not ridicule Mother Teresa's love and dedicated acts by false claims," read the single-page leaflet in English signed by Ghosh. "We demand from the state and central governments strong legal action against Sister Nirmala for violating Indian laws," it also said. The volunteers held aloft placards that read: "Don't mock Mother Teresa", "Mother don't bargain for sainthood", "Is good work not enough?" and "Why resort to fraud?" Ghosh alleged that Sister Nirmala had "turned this sainthood thing into a business." Ghosh said if the authorities did not take action, the rationalists would sue Nirmala. He said the rationalists had no objection to Mother Teresa being made a saint, "but why take recourse to falsehood for a religious cause?" The rationalists contend that if supposed miracles were passed off as medical cure, poor Indians would run to 'shamans' and 'godmen' for treating illness instead of going to doctors. Even doctors who treated the 35-year-old tribal woman, Monica Besra, claim that she had been cured with nine months of anti-tubercular medication. Mother Teresa was born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu in Skopje, Macedonia, on August 26, 1910. She came to the city in 1929, began a life dedicated to the service of the poor and dying and came to be widely considered as a living saint. She founded the Missionaries of Charity in 1949, a year after which it received the Church's approval. The order has about 700 centres in 123 countries run by about 4,000 nuns and sisters. Mother Teresa received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979. She died here in 1997. --Indo-Asian News Service ########################################################################## # Send submissions for Goanet to [EMAIL PROTECTED] # # PLEASE remember to stay on-topic (related to Goa), and avoid top-posts # # More details on Goanet at http://joingoanet.shorturl.com/ # # Please keep your discussion/tone polite, to reflect respect to others # ##########################################################################
