From the Pulpit: The Sin of Empathy

The Parable of the Prodigal Son actually may be more about the Prodigal Father, Vicar Dana Corsello says, and what he has to teach us about the "sin" of empathy.

In a nutshell, the father in this well-worn parable greets his wayward son with mercy and empathy. It’s the same thing that Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde asked of President Trump in her viral sermon the day after the inauguration.

And if empathy is a sin, Dana says, we should all be guilty.

“You may have heard Elon Musk on Joe Rogan’s podcast earlier this month, where he declared that “the fundamental weakness of Western civilization is empathy.”  Musk is aligning himself with a burgeoning hard-right movement that insists people must steel their hearts against stories of pain, loss and suffering to avoid being manipulated. You see, love for the “other” or a stranger is a distraction. NPR aired a piece last Sunday quoting a few high-profile Christian conservatives who have been sounding similar warnings. I quote:

“Empathy almost needs to be struck from the Christian vocabulary.”  “Empathy is dangerous. Empathy is toxic. Empathy will align you with hell.”  “Most people have a hard time imagining how empathy could ever be harmful. And therefore, if I’m the devil, where am I going to hide some of my most destructive tactics?”

Let me define empathy: it is not a feeling. It is the ability to recognize and respond to the reality, emotion, and pain of others. It is putting yourself in one another’s place, understanding their context, seeing things as they see them, even when it doesn’t match with your own experience. Empathy is not toxic. Nor is it a sin. It moves us from understanding to action. And this is why the ability to empathize is a threat to those with a need to control.  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, and decrying empathy helps them do that.

Father James Martin, in response to this backlash of empathy posted on social media, “The lack of empathy is at the heart of our mistreatment, mockery, and demonization of the poor, of migrants and refugees, of LGBTQ people, and all those on the margins.”  I would add, banishing empathy helps to harden the heart when migrant children are separated from their parents, when Palestinian protesters and so-called “illegals” with suspect tattoos are snatched off our streets in broad daylight, and when funding is slashed for food banks, healthcare, scientific research, and when attacks and erasure of diversity, equity, and inclusion continue under the guise of meritocracy when it’s really disguised white supremacy.

There is no getting around it: Empathy and compassion are at the heart of Jesus’ life on this earth. Friends, this is what God is like and what God demands of us. As Christians, we must never compromise these gospel values; never surrender our human decency and dignity for power, greed and spiritual poverty.