Atheists offended by Mother Teresa stamp and want it cancelled
An atheist organization 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 Freedom from Religion Foundation is urging its supporters to boycott the stamp — and also to engage in a letter-writing campaign to spread the word about what it calls the "darker side" of Mother Teresa.
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.
"Noted for her compassion toward the poor and suffering, Mother Teresa, a diminutive Roman Catholic nun and honorary U.S. citizen, served the sick and destitute of India and the world for nearly 50 years," the Postal Service said in a press release. "Her humility and compassion, as well as her respect for the innate worth and dignity of humankind, inspired people of all ages and backgrounds to work on behalf of the world’s poorest populations."
Gaylor said the atheist group opposed Father Flanagan's stamp but not those for King and Malcolm X, because she said they were known for their civil rights activities, not for their religion.
Martin Luther King "just happened to be a minister," and "Malcolm X was not principally known for being a religious figure," she said.
"And he's not called Father Malcolm X like Mother Teresa. I mean, even her name is a Roman Catholic honorific."
Gaylor said Mother Teresa infused Catholicism into her secular honors — including an "anti-abortion rant" during her Nobel Prize acceptance speech — and that even her humanitarian work was controversial.
"There was criticism by the end of her life that she turned what was a tiny charity into an extremely wealthy charity that had the means to provide better care than it did," Gaylor said. "...There's this knee jerk response that everything she did was humanitarian, and I think many people would differ that what she was doing was to promote religion, and what she wanted to do was baptize people before they die, and that doesn't have a secular purpose for a stamp."
But the Postal Service said the commemorative stamp has nothing to do with Mother Teresa's religion.
"Mother Teresa is not being honored because of her religion, she's being honored for her work with the poor and her acts of humanitarian relief," Betts told FoxNews.com.
"Her contribution to the world as a humanitarian speaks for itself and is unprecedented," he added.
Some atheists, too, spoke out against the group's objections, including Bruce Sheiman, author of "An Atheist Defends Religion." He said the Freedom from Religion Foundation is being "hypocritical" and really "stepping over the line."
"Clearly there are a number of things that you can point to and say it's religious and a number of things you can point to and say that it's areligious," Sheiman told FoxNews.com. "So it really doesn't make sense to protest it."
He said the Foundation's campaign stems from concern that the abundance of humanitarian work done by believers will overshadow that done by atheists.
"Like billboards and bus ads, this is just part of the whole campaign that they're doing to make non-belief more visible," he said.
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Oh, I see. So this particular group of atheists have billboard envy and want to shoot down people who do good works but didn't have the benefit of being either atheist or some favorable status to make a double standard "justifiable" in their eyes--a double standard, I might add, that would likely have offended MLK and others.
It's good to see some atheists are not so reactionary as these people who clearly have no idea how to influence others, except in the direction away from what they intend.
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Change is a beautiful thing!
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They don't have to buy those stamps. There were stamps issued with Islamic religious info this year, and I declined to buy them. You have the choice as to which stamps you buy.
Can't for the life of me figure out what the big Hoo Rah is about any of this.
Make your choice and be happy with it.
Yikes, still people will always find something to whine about.
I was amused the other day when I found the local post office had sold me 90 pence stamps with red coats on the front. I forsee some one accusing the post office of supporting our imperialist past, but it didn't bother the Indian gentleman who sold me them 
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This is not a democracy. It is a dictatorship and I'm Hitler.
A big fuss over nothing. 
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God sleeps in the rock, dreams in the plant, stirs in the animal...and awakens in man. - Ibn al 'Arabi
My only beef with the post office right now is that they quit issuing the Simpson Family stamps. I loved those. Should have bought a ten year supply while they were available. Had to buy Gary Cooper stamps instead. I don't mind sister whatshername stamps. At least she won a Nobel peace prize..but I do think a pope stamp would piss me off a bit.
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-“Just because I don’t care doesn’t mean I don’t understand.” –Homer Simpson
At least she won a Nobel peace prize..
...as opposed to getting it in a Happy Meal?
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Change is a beautiful thing!
As opposed to having it handed to you by the Nobel committee as a political statement about how much they disapproved of your predecessor.
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-“Just because I don’t care doesn’t mean I don’t understand.” –Homer Simpson
Rock ,i just loved your comment.........
Chanale Batata,,,it's don't SHOOT until you see the whites of their eyes..It's from the american civil war,,,No rifleing you see,,so bugger all accuracy.
Kansas !! right on the nail..
This business of mother Teresa seems to be a bit of a red rag to a bull to SOME athieneers but compare her to the maharishi,,,did she have a chaufferred rolls royce?did she have a private jet??? how often was she seen in the disco?? or at the pub??? Sure publicity brought in more money,,,THAAAAT she was not a trained financial manager does not mean that she took money for herself...Perhaps these complainers are just not happy to see religion getting good press,,but there is no doubting from where motivation came..Perhaps these people think that if we can be stifled we will go away,,like the bear can be stopped from urinating in the woods....
As opposed to having it handed to you by the Nobel committee as a political statement about how much they disapproved of your predecessor.
Well, yeah, I agree with you, my comment was kind of meant to be sarcastic. I might be wrong, Obama could have gotten his form a cereal box after all.
@ pietro della, check your GB.
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Change is a beautiful thing!
Oh for Pete's sake! Some people just bitch & moan just for something to bitch & moan about. Much ado. *rolls eyes*
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If a kid asks where rain comes from, I think a cute thing to tell him is "God is crying." And if he asks why God is crying, another cute thing to tell him is "Probably because of something you did." JH
i would buy a beyonce stamp instead of teresa
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anck-su-namun pwns chana batata
1000 atli o gun cocuklar gibi sendik
1000 atli o gun dev gibi bir ordunun a.q.duk
I am told that the post office has a rule that they do not print photos on stamps unless the person in the photo has been dead for a few years. That's obviously not true however. How would they explain the Simpson Family stamps. They aren't dead, I see them of TV every day. So, who knows....maybe a Beyonce stamp will be next.
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-“Just because I don’t care doesn’t mean I don’t understand.” –Homer Simpson
I am told that the post office has a rule that they do not print photos on stamps unless the person in the photo has been dead for a few years. That's obviously not true however. How would they explain the Simpson Family stamps. They aren't dead, I see them of TV every day. So, who knows....maybe a Beyonce stamp will be next.
Not true Kansas... Was in the post office last week...they sell stamp that you can put YOUR picture on. Now your picture on a stamp would be offensive to my eyes, but there's a reason for that.... But if you can make custom REAL postage...then what's the problem? There is none. Now for funny...everyone make stamps with nothing but a cross on them and mail them to this group of idiots.
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"Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it, misdiagnosing it and then misapplying the wrong remedies." --Groucho Marx
Everyone is offended by something. Get a life and let such things go.
News Update: When asked to comment further on Atheist's objections to the stamp, a spokesperson for the US Postal Service said "...they can get F$#@ed".
Where in the US Postal regulations does it state that it's "against honoring individuals whose principal achievements are associated with religious undertakings." So. are we to believe that there has not been a single stamp in the US Postal system with the image of the Pope for example? That must be the only "Christian" country in the world not to contain images (people) of a religious nature on their stamps if that's the case.
Why are any self-respecting atheists so offended by something so trivial and harmless. Would they be happy honouring serial killers? Sounds like some people have way too much time on their hands. They should get a hobby, or a life. Whatever comes sooner.
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"If you know your enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles." "If you know yourself, but not your enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat." "If you know neither the enemy or yourself, you will be defeated in every battle." The Art of War - Sun Tzu.