Bruce Feiler: August 2007 Archives

CNN decided at the last minute to postpone our interview until sometime next week, closer to the anniversary of her death, which of course came just a few weeks after the death of her friend Princess Diana. I've taken the time to begin reading the new book that's causing all the hullabaloo, and brush up on the wars that have attended her reputation for the last decade or so. (You can read about her life, and the controversies, here. To get a sense of the Christopher Hitchens attack position, click here.)

The TIME cover, and the initial way the book has been portrayed in the media, focus on the issue of Mother Teresa's "darkness" and "doubt," and whether that's compatible with faith. Someone in the TIME piece even suggests the new book would be viewed as a modern-day version of Saint Augustin's Confessions. You can check out the comments that a number of readers have had on that question below. My gut reaction was that these issues made Mother Teresa more human to me, and, as odd as it sounds when we're discussing a saint, more appealing. Mother Teresa: The Human Saint.

But now that I've read the first third of the book my initial reaction is: It ain't Confessions. To begin with, it's hard to get over the reluctance she had to having these letters published. And it wasn't a recent, faux humble thing: She spent decades trying to keep them private. Augstine wrote Confessions, and it's a beautiful book in places. Come Be My Light is a series of heavily edited letters, with large blocks of explication in between, that often are about functionary problems. It's rarely beautiful, and it doesn't really hold together as a confessional narrative.

Having said that, it's fascinating in ways I didn't entirely expect. First, the "darkness" alluded to in the text is only mentioned in passing in the first third that I've read so far, but it's not really the darkness of doubt, it's the darkness of depression and loneliness. Second, it's not entirely surprising that she'd feel dark and lonely considering she traveled far from home and was completely forbidden from making decisions for herself. Everything gets run up the chain of (male) authority. To think that she was doing all the agitating for a poverty center as a woman in the Catholic Church in the 1940's is very instructive. Which leads to the third point, she's unbelievably aggressive, at one point going over the head of her superiors and attempting to plead her case directly to the pope. My wife runs a non-profit that supports entrepreneurs in the developing world. Mother Teresa was a social entrepreneur before the term was invented, and she could have used all the help she could get. The Catholic Church comes across as bloated and ossified. So based on what I've read so far, I'd say, No wonder she had doubts.

Time for a confession. Careful readers will notice a line in WHERE GOD WAS BORN about my anxiety about leaving my new wife and traveling to Iraq in the middle of the war to visit biblical sites and continue the journey of WALKING THE BIBLE. At one point I report that a friend and former spy called to say the risks simply weren't worth it. Who was this mystery man?

Well, today he outed himself in the NYT. The occasion was an Oped about the silliness of what the CIA classifies and doesn't classify. Check out the tag line for his new book at the end. It gave me chills!

How can information that’s a five-minute Google search away be classified? It’s simple. Classified information is not the same thing as secret information.

When I worked in the C.I.A.’s directorate of operations (now called the national clandestine service) in the early ’90s, we were told that information was classified when it involved sources or methods. It seemed logical that sources were classified. These were actual agents who would be put in jeopardy if their identities were revealed.

But practically everything the C.I.A. does could be considered a “method,” so the C.I.A. can decide that almost anything relating to its work is classified. You’d probably want this latitude if you were running an intelligence agency. But one of its unfortunate byproducts is that no one, inside or outside the intelligence community, really knows what classified information is.

Because so many things at the C.I.A. are classified, only a small percentage of them are actually secrets. Take agency cover arrangements. I cannot write about them in this article in any detail. If I point out that agency officers are often under cover as XXXXXXXXXX, the C.I.A. will make me take it out before publishing this article. (Before I submitted this article to the C.I.A.’s publications review board, I blacked it out myself to save the reviewers the trouble.)

I've been invited to appear on CNN on Monday, sometime between 7 and 9 AM, to discuss the revelations about Mother Teresa contained in a new book, and outlined on the cover of TIME this week. The essence of the story is that Mother Teresa's letters are being published against her wishes, and they contain open talk about darkness, doubt, and her own struggles with faith. A number of people have suggested the letters will enhance her reputation as they open a window into her soul, not unlike St. Augustine's Confessions. The question CNN has asked me to discuss is, "Can you have faith and still have doubts?" I'd love to hear thoughts on this topic as I reflect about it this weekend in preparation for my appearance early Monday morning.

In the meantime, here's the nut of David van Biema's article.

A new, innocuously titled book, Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light (Doubleday), consisting primarily of correspondence between Teresa and her confessors and superiors over a period of 66 years, provides the spiritual counterpoint to a life known mostly through its works. The letters, many of them preserved against her wishes (she had requested that they be destroyed but was overruled by her church), reveal that for the last nearly half-century of her life she felt no presence of God whatsoever — or, as the book's compiler and editor, the Rev. Brian Kolodiejchuk, writes, "neither in her heart or in the eucharist."

That absence seems to have started at almost precisely the time she began tending the poor and dying in Calcutta, and — except for a five-week break in 1959 — never abated. Although perpetually cheery in public, the Teresa of the letters lived in a state of deep and abiding spiritual pain. In more than 40 communications, many of which have never before been published, she bemoans the "dryness," "darkness," "loneliness" and "torture" she is undergoing. She compares the experience to hell and at one point says it has driven her to doubt the existence of heaven and even of God. She is acutely aware of the discrepancy between her inner state and her public demeanor. "The smile," she writes, is "a mask" or "a cloak that covers everything." Similarly, she wonders whether she is engaged in verbal deception. "I spoke as if my very heart was in love with God — tender, personal love," she remarks to an adviser. "If you were [there], you would have said, 'What hypocrisy.'" Says the Rev. James Martin, an editor at the Jesuit magazine America and the author of My Life with the Saints, a book that dealt with far briefer reports in 2003 of Teresa's doubts: "I've never read a saint's life where the saint has such an intense spiritual darkness. No one knew she was that tormented." Recalls Kolodiejchuk, Come Be My Light's editor: "I read one letter to the Sisters [of Teresa's Missionaries of Charity], and their mouths just dropped open. It will give a whole new dimension to the way people understand her."

I'm usually skeptical of any claims to have a "million man" march, or a "million moms," or any such magic number. But a friend of mine seems to have some momentum for a "million voices" to speak up in favor of some progress on peace in the Middle East.

Frustrated with the ongoing instability in the region, the recent crisis in Gaza, and the lack of progress, the OneVoice Movement announced earlier this month that nearly 500,000 Palestinian and Israeli citizens have united to demand immediate, ongoing, uninterrupted negotiations, until a comprehensive two-state agreement is achieved. OneVoice has also committed to recruiting 1 million signatories to join the movement by October.

On October 18, 2007, Israeli and Palestinian citizens - together with international supporters - will mobilize to call for a two-state solution, and an end to the occupation and terror. OneVoice, a non-partisan, mainstream, nationalist movement working in Israel and Palestine for an end to the conflict, will organize separate, simultaneous public summits in Tel Aviv, Jericho, and Jerusalem, with international "Echo" events in London, Washington, DC, and Ottawa. The summits will be broadcast via satellite for the world to witness the international solidarity toward ending the conflict. Hundreds of thousands are expected to participate, and to add their signatures to the OneVoice mandate for a two-state solution.

"The people need to start leading the way, to create the conditions necessary for their elected representatives to fulfill the will of the moderate majority," said OneVoice founder Daniel Lubetzky. "Excuses and disclaimers won't get us anywhere. Each of us needs to ask: what can I do to help end the conflict? What am I willing to do to ensure negotiations do not stop until the heads of state achieve an agreement that can be presented to the people?"

Actually, I met Daniel through my wife, who's a social entrepreneur, and I've seen the power close up of people who can organize and make a difference. For more information, click here or here.

End of discussion?

I'm over age 60, and was circumcised at birth and don't remember a thing about it. However, i have been a practicing nudist most of my life - and i can tell you that there have been times i wished that i had the protection of the foreskin, from scratches, abrasions - and especially from sunburn! I don't believe that the Hebrews who initiated circumcision ever thout about protection - possibly bec they never dreamed of going about daily business in the buff. BTW, how can some rabbis condemn tattooing as defacing the body that G-d has given us, and yet condone circumcision? (i don't have any tattoos - i don't even like them)

Again, the biggest revelation, so to speak, in this conversation has been the number of people who argue in favor of circumcision because of appearance. Seems like a dangerous path to go down to me -- Plastic surgery makes you more pious? More beautiful for God? Follow this commandment and you'll feel better naked?

Gives new meaning to the idea of resurrection.The Rev. Jerry Falwell had life insurance policies worth $34 million and the money has been used to erase the debt of Liberty University, the school he founded. The televangelist's son, Liberty Chancellor...

I'm bumping up my post of a few weeks back, The End of Circumcision, because it's generated a huge outpouring of thoughts, from men and women (lots of women commenting on circumcision and what it does to the appearance of...

Circumcision rates nearly cut in half in the USA. I guess Prince William set off a trend. Should Jews follow? More and more are saying yes.While the United States is one of the few industrialized countries in which a majority...

My older brother's name is Andrew. My little sister's name is Cari. My name, of course, is Bruce. Do a little figuring, and you can see that our names are alphabetical. It was accidental, having more to do with when...

When I went to Iraq a few years ago for WHERE GOD WAS BORN, I drove from the Garden of Eden and Abraham's birthplace in the extreme south of the country to Nimrod and Nineveh in the extreme north. Now,...

I recently got into a little back-and-forth with Mrs. Feiler Faster over whether it is OK to give children iced tea. Now comes word that a teenager in Britain actually overdosed on coffee. Obviously this is an extreme example, but...

A meek defense in the NYT about the use of baby videos contains an interesting stat: Children spend 49 minutes a day in front of screens and only 30 minutes a day in front of books. This applies, in this...

Josh Marshall on the outing of a demented Foreign Service officer:It seems that 20-year career Foreign Service officer Patrick Syring wasn't cut out for bringing America's message of tolerance, peace and democracy to the Middle East. Last summer, while the...

The debate over Jimmy Carter's book may have been only the beginning. The war over the Israel Lobby is already underway in advance of a new book, and counter book, being published this September. I haven't read the books, so...

Somewhere, Thomas Jefferson is smiling: "Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" is still the coin of the realm. Overall, Americans are definitely satisfied with the life they lead. Almost all (94%) say they are satisfied, with over half of...

An important milestone in my house last night as Mrs. Feiler Faster kindly admitted that I've been predicting the backsplash against bottled water for over a year now. No use linking to all the posts I've made about this subject....

An alarming day. This article confirms what I've been hearing: That he's the odds on favorite to be Israel's next PM. Having lived in Israel during some of his last tenure, I find him troubling, morally questionable, and frighteningly doctrainaire....

I once dated a woman who said that people get the diseases that somehow are a reflection of their personality, or their lives. I hated this idea. Lung cancer from smoking is one thing, but does anyone deserve MS? I...

As readers of the blogosphere know, it's common parlance for bloggers to refer to the sites and sitemasters that host them as "overlords," as in "we're the humble lieges, they are the powerful overlords, and we just slave away for...

The wonders of the blogosphere being what they are, a huge debate has erupted over at a post I made last week called "Steak Mate," about women who eat meat to help catch a man. Here are some my favorites:I...

I drove back or forth from New York to Cape Cod four times in the last eight days dropping off our girlies for Camp Grandma. Right over the Bourne Bridge are two huge roundabouts and the traffic often backs up...

A minor melee on Friday outside the popular Jaffa Gate (described here and here), the main entrance to the Old City, killed one and wounded ten more. I always say that Jerusalem is a living laboratory of coexistence. Just the...

It's television. Longtime readers of Feiler Faster know that I've had a bit of an ongoing battle with certain members of my family. I'm not a lock-the-TV-in-the-basement guy. I realize that there are certain times of the week when a...

I was for teaching the Bible in schools before teaching the Bible in schools was cool. My argument, in a nutshell, is that at a time when religion is the dominant force in the world not preparing out students to...

If this story weren't serious, it would be funny. Johnson & Johnson has sued the Red Cross claiming it owns the red cross. Yup, the cross. Even the Church doesn't own the cross. Like all religious symbols, it has a...

The issue of footbaths at Michigan schools created a bloodbath last year, which right wing bloggers insisting installing them in some colleges meant inviting Al Qaeda to the homecoming dance. The NYT examins the fallout: When pools of water began...

I confess that back when I first started dating Mrs. Feiler Faster I was wholly turned off by the fish-and-salad routine at dinner. Okay, fine, I get that people don't eat meat for all sorts of valid reasons, but I...

To Raise a Village. A bit of boastin' here. Check out this extraordinary slide show on Time.com about the Mural Arts Program of Philly. My sister represents them and it's a wonderful community program, proven to unite neighborhoods behind works...

Quote of the Day: Bacsik’s father, who is also named Mike, once pitched to Aaron when Aaron had 755 home runs in 1976. Bacsik was humorous about his supporting role. “I dreamed about this as a kid,” Bacsik said. “Unfortunately,...

Few people I know believe any more in the old "land for peace" formula for Middle East peace. There's simply no more trust among Israelis that the Palestinians could deliver that peace even if it were agreed to, or that...

If my email is any indication, I would say the use of audiobooks seems to be ticking up. Of course, like any author, I am thrilled when people read my wok in any form. But audiobooks have clear tradeoffs. On...

For one writer at the LAT, the answer was yes. He was thrilled to receive the religion beat, but after years of covering questions of faith for the paper, he found himself in a crisis. WHEN Times editors assigned me...

The Dems made be putting ther organizational dollars where they mouths have been for the past few months. In 2006, the party set up pilot programs in six states to experiment with the best way to capture religiously motivated voters....

Texas must be getting a case of the humbles. Twenty-five centuries after the Bible declared the world to have been created by God, the Texas Legislature has finally declared that it, too, is "under God." Whew. And just in the...

I, for one, am getting sick of the boilerplate articles about God in the ‘08 election – the ones that repeat the same shopworn concerns about Mormonism, the same issues with Giuliani and his marriages, the same wonder that Democrats...

As I mention above, I think much of the writing about Romney and Mormonism has been shallow. For what it's worth, I count myself among those who think this issue need not necessarily be a concern, but actually is a...

I linked to this article yesterday and there was some confusion about what I wrote, so I'm starting from scratch. One joy of my two trips to Iran in recent years was plunging deep into the Jewish community. At 35,000,...

I'm catching up on some old stories that caught my eye in recent weeks. For anyone who's spent a minute contemplating the Holocaust, this one sends shivers down the Central Nervous System. It seems being Jewish has become chic in...

A common complaint I hear from people who keep kosher is that it's increasingly difficult to find kosher food outside the big cities. But kosher food may be only half the problem. Try organic kosher food. When being part of...