The Freedom from Religion Foundation is blasting the U.S. Postal Service for its plan to honor Mother Teresa with a commemorative stamp, saying it violates postal regulations against honoring “individuals whose principal achievements are associated with religious undertakings.”
The stamp — set to be released on Aug. 26, which would have been Mother Teresa’s 100th birthday — will recognize the 1979 Nobel Peace Prize winner for her humanitarian work, the Postal Service announced last month.
But Freedom from Religion Foundation spokeswoman Annie Laurie Gaylor says issuing the stamp runs against Postal Service regulations.
“Mother Teresa is principally known as a religious figure who ran a religious institution. You can’t really separate her being a nun and being a Roman Catholic from everything she did,” Gaylor told FoxNews.com
As usual the militant atheists are hurting their own cause by acting like petty jerks. Yet while it is tempting to dismiss them because of their bad motives, their argument does have some technical legal merit.
There are twelve criteria used to determine who qualifies to appear on a U.S. postage stamp. The one most applicable in this case is #9:
9. Stamps or stationery items shall not be issued to honor religious institutions or individuals whose principal achievements are associated with religious undertakings or beliefs.
As Frank Lockwood, religion reporter for the Arkansas Times, asks on his blog: “Are Mother Teresa’s principal achievements ‘associated with religious undertakings or beliefs?’”
The honest answer for most Christians would be, “Yes.” Although she is getting the award because she won the Nobel Peace Prize, that is not her principle achievement, nor were her actions disassociated from her religious vocation and beliefs. Lockwood concludes, “. . . I think Mother Teresa would argue that her acts of charity were religious undertakings motivated by her love of God and her devotion to Jesus Christ. ” I completely agree.
That leaves us in the unfortunate position of claiming that if she meets the current legal qualifications, then her primary achievements were not based on her faith. This we must reject, since Mother Teresa would no doubt reject this claim herself. So unless I’m missing something, it appears that we should concede that she clearly does not meet the current legal criteria.
Naturally, I think the selection criteria is absurd, a ridiculous concession to the pernicious myth that secular neutrality is not only possible but also something to which we should aspire. We shouldn’t allow this criteria to go unchallenged. The U.S. Postal Service and the members of the Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee should immediately scrap this discriminatory restriction.
Nevertheless, while it’s easy to snicker at the self-pitying motivations of the activists who fear that “the abundance of humanitarian work done by believers will overshadow that done by atheists,” it’s not so easy to dismiss their legal claim. Mother Teresa should certainly appear on a stamp—but only after we change the law. We shouldn’t look for loopholes that require denying the importance of her faith in order for her to qualify. Mother Teresa should be honored for who she really was—a Catholic nun motivated by the love of Christ—and not as a faux, secular saint.
January 29th, 2010 | 10:30 am
Bravo! I am a devout Christian, and you are right about this issue. The USPS rule is the problem here. If Christians claim that Mother Teresa’s acts were not an expression of her faith and love of the Lord and his people, then we are giving in to the secularists. The atheist group sponsoring this boycott against the stamp luring Christians into a losing battle. Fight the USPS rule, not the atheists.
January 29th, 2010 | 10:47 am
The postal service already issued stamps for Martin Luther King and Malcom X.
As you know, the Freedom From Religion Foundation didn’t object to these stamps.
Just how secular was the civil rights movement? Did faith play any role in Rev. King’s civil rights activism?
January 29th, 2010 | 11:02 am
I’m with Dimitri.
What is Dr. King best known for? His crusading work for civil rights. One might argue that he had religious motives for this work; that he pursued it out of religious conviction, within the context of religious social institutions, often appealing to religious language and categories. In evaluating the secular value of his legacy, though, we don’t squint at motives and such, we ask what the person did.
Likewise, when people think of Mother Teresa, what do they think of first and foremost? Someone who founded a religious order? Plenty of other people have done that. Mother Teresa is best known for corporal works of mercy — for her driving concern for giving humane care to the poorest of the poor, especially those dying in destitution.
Mother Teresa is known as a person who went into the slums of Calcutta, picked up dying people off the streets, took care of them in their last hours, persuaded a lot of other people to do the same, and generally highlighted the condition and needs of the poorest of the poor.
She did not proselytize or make faith an issue in her work. She took care of everyone equally regardless of creed. While there is some controversy around things like surreptitious baptisms among her nuns, this is tangential to what she is best known for and so is a side issue.
While the religiosity of Mother Teresa’s efforts may be more conspicuous than Dr. King’s, it can easily be argued that the difference is one of degree, not kind.
January 29th, 2010 | 11:16 am
“You can’t really separate her being a nun and being a Roman Catholic from everything she did.”
That’s exactly right, and is true for Martin Luther King, Jr., as well. (Not that he was a Catholic nun. You know what I mean.)
January 29th, 2010 | 11:23 am
I wonder if this refers to “religious” in the older sense of the word, and not in the sense that the new atheists would use it. That is, one might build a new monastery, and thus be known for a “religious” service, and one might help serve the poor and thus be known for a “secular” service.
January 29th, 2010 | 12:59 pm
Mother Teresa is a symbol of hope, humanity and love. The world can truly use more of that. Stop being rediculous. Your unending fear of religion is laughable. What ever lie you’re telling yourself to justify this attack on the postal service will catch up with you. I intend to write to the postal service to encourage and praise the stamp for honoring one of the greatest humanitarians of our time. You can’t win this one. There are too many people who respect the work she did. You are hurting yourself by attacking this action. You will loose more supporters. Even non believers respected Mother Teresa. She did the world a great service. If you want to behave in this way go to China. Communism is more your style anyway. Don’t twist the protection of the separation of Church and State to deny our free republic from what we want.
January 29th, 2010 | 4:04 pm
I believe you’re right here. Change the law first, then honour Mother Teresa with a stamp. As it is, the law renders the whole business of issuing stamps ” derisory”, the term Malcolm Muggeridge used when rejecting British knighthood. When an award excludes Mother Teresa on the grounds of her religion, what sensible person would want it.
Whenever politics trumps the actual merit an award is meant to celebrate, the award loses its power to signify real achievement.That’s what has happened to the Nobel Prize, most music and film awards and, up north where I live, The Order of Canada.
January 30th, 2010 | 5:42 am
What about the muslim stamp? Where does that stand?
January 30th, 2010 | 5:54 am
PREJUDICE….A humanitarian like her should be on a stamp. Atheism is a religion.
Its an organization of selfishness. But we accept that.
And now …prejudice if it is not of their own
organization.
Look at Haiti…instead of group talking about a stamp of someone loving ..do something
helpful like she did. No conscience for right and wrong…would I like one of their ORGANIZERS
on a stamp…No..but would have to accept it.
As we have with our no conscience society that wreaks havoc…more and more…have you noticed.
January 30th, 2010 | 3:49 pm
Mother Theresa refused to baptize dying Hindus. She caught flack from Catholics. Why? Would those people, sincerely religiously, have to come to her if she hadn’t respected their faith?
In her own words:
I want you to be concerned about your next door neighbor. Do you know your next door neighbor?
The most terrible poverty is loneliness and the feeling of being unloved.
Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching its people to love, but to use any violence to get what they want. That is why the greatest destroyer of love and peace is abortion.
Even the rich are hungry for love, for being cared for, for being wanted, for having someone to call their own.
If the Nobel Prize committee, not the most Christian group of people, awarded her their peace prize, I think the USPS is on pretty safe ground!
January 30th, 2010 | 4:10 pm
What about the Virgin Mary on the Christmas stamps????? I love the idea of Mother Theresa being on our stamps. Linda is right. Atheism IS a religion. They BELIEVE there is no God. Thank GOD I live in a country that recognizes those that DESERVE to be recognized.
January 30th, 2010 | 9:59 pm
I’d be curious how many non-Americans are on US stamps. I know the BVM is on stamps re. Christmas, which is a national holiday. But how many non-Americans are on there?
I’d like to see her on a stamp. If Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie Simpson get stamps…
January 31st, 2010 | 7:46 am
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by First Things, gates of vienna and gates of vienna, Christopher Herring. Christopher Herring said: "Why Mother Teresa Shouldn't Be On a StampAt Least Not Yet…" http://tinyurl.com/y9rsmtt #MLK #ihaveadream San Antonio [...]
February 1st, 2010 | 2:19 pm
[...] Change the law and put Mother Teresa on the stamp, already! Comments [...]
February 1st, 2010 | 3:51 pm
Nice piece, good solution. Linked to it, and commented on it here: http://www.americamagazine.org/blog/entry.cfm?blog_id=2&id=47811340-3048-741E-6381264846399706
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