The Missionary Position

In this book Christopher Hitchens writes about Mother Teresa's life and work. The book criticizes Teresa as a political opportunist who adopted the guise of a saint in order to raise money and spread an extreme religious ideology.


Hitchens condemns Teresa for having used contributions to open convents in 150 countries rather than establishing the teaching hospital toward which her donors expected her to apply their gifts. He claims that Teresa was no "friend to the poor," and that she opposed structural measures to end poverty, particularly those that would raise the status of women. He argues she was a tool by which the Catholic Church furthered its political and theological aims, and the cult of personality that she developed was used by politicians, dictators and bankers to gain credibility and assuage guilt, citing Hillary Rodham Clinton, Charles Keating and Michèle Bennett as examples.


Regarding the book's title with its sexual double meaning, Hitchens said, "it was either that or Sacred Cow, and I thought Sacred Cow would be in bad taste."