Recently the United States Postal Service announced that they will be issuing a stamp commemorating Mother Teresa for her humanitarian work. They plan to release the stamp in August, which would coincide with the hundredth anniversary of Mother Teresa's birth. The Freedom From Religion Foundation has vocally criticised the USPS, saying the stamp violates the agency's own regulations.



The FFRF says, specifically, that issuing the stamp is in conflict with a postal regulation which reads, "stamps or stationery items shall not be issued to honor religious institutions or individuals whose principal achievements are associated with religious undertakings or beliefs."



The USPS says, however, that the stamp is being issued in honor of Mother Teresa's "fifty years of service to "the sick and destitute of India and the world," as well as her "humility and compassion" and "respect for the innate worth and dignity of humankind."



Part of me sees where the FFRF is coming from -- sure, she was a Catholic nun, so certainly many of her undertakings were associated with her religious vocation. However, Mother Teresa was also a woman who saved the lives of thousands of people and offered a great deal of spiritual comfort to the sick and destitute. That's got to be worth something, no matter what religion she was. The fact that she was a nun, or that she believed she was doing God's work, shouldn't be used a way to diminish her legacy of work. She won the Nobel Peace Prize, for goodness' sake.



As an example, Rev. Martin Luther King was a spiritual leader, and yet he was also instrumental in the civil rights movement, and that is why there are postage stamps honoring him. Father Edward Flanagan, the founder of the Boys' Town orphanage, has a stamp honoring his work with children, and he was a Catholic priest.



Normally I'm on the same page as the FFRF folks, but I think this time around they might have missed the mark. What do the rest of you think? Should the USPS go ahead and honor Mother Teresa with a stamp for her humanitarian work, or should they cancel it because she happens to be a religious icon?



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FFRF Opposes Mother Teresa Stamp originally appeared on About.com Paganism / Wiccan on Monday, February 8th, 2010 at 16:35:14.

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