WASHINGTON (AP) — Empathy is usually regarded as a virtue, a key to human decency and kindness. And yet, with increasing momentum, voices on the Christian right are preaching that it has become a vice.
For them, empathy is a cudgel for the left: It can manipulate caring people into accepting all manner of sins according to a conservative Christian perspective, including abortion access, LGBTQ+ rights, illegal immigration and certain views on social and racial justice.
“Empathy becomes toxic when it encourages you to affirm sin, validate lies or support destructive policies,” said Allie Beth Stuckey, author of “Toxic Empathy: How Progressives Exploit Christian Compassion.”
Stuckey, host of the popular podcast “Relatable,” is one of two evangelicals who published books within the past year making Christian arguments against some forms of empathy.
The other is Joe Rigney, a professor and pastor who wrote “The Sin of Empathy: Compassion and its Counterfeits.” It was published by Canon Press, an affiliate of Rigney’s conservative denomination, which counts Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth among its members.
These anti-empathy arguments gained traction in the early months of President Donald Trump’s second term, with his flurry of executive orders that critics denounced as lacking empathy.
As foreign aid stopped and more deportations began, Trump’s then-adviser Elon Musk told podcaster Joe Rogan: “The fundamental weakness of Western civilization is empathy.”
Even Vice President JD Vance, a Catholic convert, framed the idea in his own religious terms, invoking the concept of ordo amoris, or order of love. Within concentric circles of importance, he argued the immediate family comes first and the wider world last — an interpretation that then-Pope Francis rejected.
While their anti-empathy arguments have differences, Stuckey and Rigney have audiences that are firmly among Trump’s Christian base.
“Could someone use my arguments to justify callous indifference to human suffering? Of course,” Rigney said, countering that he still supports measured Christ-like compassion. “I think I’ve put enough qualifications.”
Historian Susan Lanzoni traced a century of empathy’s uses and definitions in her 2018 book “Empathy: A History.” Though it’s had its critics, she has never seen the aspirational term so derided as it is now.
It’s been particularly jarring to watch Christians take down empathy, said Lanzoni, a graduate of Harvard Divinity School.
“That’s the whole message of Jesus, right?”
Empathy is a sin.
Exposing pedophiles is a sin.
Protecting children is a sin.
Healthcare for Gaza is a sin.
Healthcare for Americans is a sin.
Military force against the American people is God’s will.
Not sure what kinda fucked up holy war people still supporting this shit believe they’re fighting, but it’s definitely not a Christian one and you’re commiting blasphemy by claiming it is.
Of course they prefer the term sympathy. That let’s them feel like they are looking down in pity at a lesser.
Its the opposite of a sin. When Jesus sumed up the law and the prophets into two commandments, the one dealing with other people was basically be empathetic.
" So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets." Matthew 7:12 NIV.
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
“Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth.
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me.
Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.Shhhhh we don’t talk about that part of the bible
Sympathy is the virtue. Empathy is just the ability to take the perspective of others and interpret their emotional states. Whether or not that’s good or bad depends entirely on how you respond; how you act.
Someone with a lot of empathy can use their ability to lie, cheat, and manipulate other people. They take advantage of their understanding of others’ situations and emotional states in order to maximize the effectiveness of their manipulations. There’s nothing virtuous about that!
They’re not actual Christians.
They call themselves that though.
I call myself rich, but if I don’t go to work I don’t get paid, and if I don’t get paid I can’t pay the rent… and out the door I
wentgo.People can call themselves Christians, but unless they actually follow the teachings of Christ, it doesn’t mean anything.
"Betteridge’s law of headlines is an adage that states: “Any headline that ends in a question mark can be answered by the word no.”
Matthew 23 is about these kinds of people. Recommended reading, even for fellow atheists. Keep in mind that the scribes and pharisees that Jesus calls out over and over again were the conservative leaders of his time - “pastors and politicians” - behaving just as ours do today.
He generally referred to them as “liars, Pharisees, hypocrites.”
“Empathy is a sin” mfs when I kill them
Conservative christian culture makes people objectively worse.
Is empathy a sin? Some
conservative Christiansnarssists argue it can beMostly a venn diagram containing only one circle.
This is at the heart of it. They are mostly narcissist.
Psychopaths
Anyone who thinks empathy is in any way a bad thing is person who cannot be trusted in any way.
I don’t think we can tolerate these ass hats anymore. I no longer have empathy for them.
