AP Asks the Vicar: Is Empathy a Sin?

St. Paul told the Romans to "rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep." For some Christians, that's a potential pathway to sin — but Vicar Dana Corsello isn't one of them.

Recents months have seen a flurry of right-leaning Christians who claim that empathy is a vice, not a virtue. It can be dangerous, they say, if leaning into another person’s suffering or status leads to sin.

Let’s be honest: What they’re really talking about here is empathizing with people or causes they don’t support — particularly LGBTQIA communities, migrants, racial minorities and others.

Vicar Dana Corsello preached about this last spring, which led to an interview with the Associated Press. Here’s what Dana had to say:

“Empathy is not toxic. Nor is it a sin,” said the Rev. Canon Dana Colley Corsello in a sermon at Washington National Cathedral, two months after Budde’s plea from that sanctuary.

“The arguments about toxic empathy are finding open ears because far-right-wing, white evangelicals are looking for a moral framework around which they can justify President Trump’s executive orders and policies,” Corsello preached.

“Empathy is at the heart of Jesus’ life and ministry,” Corsello wrote in a recent email exchange about the sermon.

She added, “It’s so troubling that this is even up for debate.”

Or, as Dana would say, if empathy is a sin, may we all be found guilty.