The veneration attached to Mother Teresa is misplaced, said journalist, author and literary critic Christopher Hitchens, as the Vatican considers granting sainthood to the late Catholic nun.

In a speech in Old North yesterday Hitchens said that while it is widely believed that Mother Teresa “administered to the sick, fed the hungry, and clothed the naked,” she was a servant of the Catholic Church, not a peace advocate, choosing religious dogma over a pragmatic approach to humanitarian crises.

Hitchens said that Mother Teresa promoted religious initiatives such as controlling access to contraception and founding convents rather than pursuing changes that could produce help impoverished communities, referring specifically to the nun’s efforts in Calcutta, which Hitchens said he witnessed.

“One of the last things Calcutta needs is a campaign against family planning,” he said.

Hitchens said that Mother Teresa’s insistence against birth control helped conditions in many countries remain poor, arguing that women are less educated and have a reduced effect on the economy when they are forced to care for an unexpectedly large family. He said that her initiatives “helped kill millions of people.”

“You must give women control over the number of babies they have,” he said.

According to Hitchens, conditions have improved in many areas of the world where women’s education was increased.

“Mother Teresa campaigned her entire life against that possibility,” he said.

According to Hitchens, many secular non-governmental organizations, such as Red Cross and UNICEF, had substantially more positive effects on ravished regions.

Hitchens did not accuse Mother Teresa of hypocrisy, since she always claimed to be a servant of the Catholic Church and not a peace advocate. But he said that the widespread perception of her vastly misrepresents her achievements. He said that people were quick to accept her image as a peace advocate because they found it a simple solution to many of the world’s greatest problems.

“The rich world has a poor conscience,” he said.

Hitchens criticized the Norwegian Nobel Committee for awarding other Teresa the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979, saying that her life’s work did not promote peace.

“She never said a word about peace,” he said.

Hitchens said that Mother Teresa called abortion and contraception the greatest threats to world peace in her acceptance speech, a stance that he called an overstatement of religious doctrine.

“A theocratic view . is certain to become corrupt,” he said.

He added that Mother Teresa invested the stipend she received with the award on dozens of convents in her name that were not needed.

Hitchens also said that Mother Teresa helped perpetuate oppression in Haiti when she told natives not to hate their government. He said that he speculates that these comments were made in order to elicit donations from Haitian leaders.

Hitchens said that he recently testified at the request of the Catholic Church against Mother Teresa’s sainthood, but he claimed that his perspective was not taken seriously.

“I think it was a box check, that’s all,” he said.

In the question and answer period following the speech, Hitchens said that religion has helped spread oppression and has made people “stupider.” He said that, although he cannot see religious belief being eradicated, religion should become more personal and religious institutions should become strictly separated from government.

“The first thing is to realize that religion is manmade and to see through that,” he said.

The speech was sponsored by The Lecture Fund.