Rightly Empathetic

The Bible teaches us, as believers in the body of Christ, to bear one another's burdens, to be compassionate toward one another, as well as toward those who are unbelievers.  And, we are called to walk with other people through their suffering.  Ephesians 4 (ESV) states:
29 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.
30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.
32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

What it means to truly, Biblically, be empathetic toward others has now become a subject of debate.  In a commentary last year, I quoted from a Christian Post article that said:

Empathy, a virtue Christians are called to exemplify, is being redefined in an era of increasingly polarized viewpoints and weaponized to undermine moral clarity — and the ramifications are devastating.

That’s according to Allie Beth Stuckey, author, speaker, commentator and the host of the BlazeTV podcast "Relatable" who, in an interview with The Christian Post, opened up about her latest book, Toxic Empathy: How the Left Exploits Christian Compassion. In it, she delves into the distinction between compassion grounded in biblical principles and an empathy that, she says, can cloud moral clarity.

Stuckey's book was not the only one dealing with this issue; college professor Joe Rigney wrote, The Sin of Empathy: Compassion and Its Counterfeits.  At WORLD Magazine, he said: "When it comes to upholding strict standards of justice, empathy is a liability, not an asset. It’s why in certain circumstances involving gross error and high-handed sin, God’s law forbids empathy and pity. If someone—even a close family member—enticed Israel to commit idolatry and abandon the Lord, God told them that “you shall not yield to him, or listen to him, nor shall your eye pity him, nor shall you spare him” (Deuteronomy 13:6–10). It’s why some of us have taken to warning about 'toxic empathy' and 'the sin of empathy.'"

Well, seems that Stuckey and Rigney have acquired a friend in high places, well, not really - this high-profile individual, a former First Lady, U.S. Senator, and Secretary of State, according to a piece by Rigney at the American Reformer website...

...identifies me and Allie Beth Stuckey as part of a “cadre of hard-right Christian influencers who are waging a war on empathy.” According to Clinton, we reject “bedrock Christian values such as dignity, mercy, and compassion” and our criticisms of empathy “reveal a moral rot” and reflect “moral blindness or moral bankruptcy.”

Yes, that would be Hillary Clinton, who wrote an article about what she calls a "War on Empathy" at The Atlantic.  Rigney writes:

Stuckey and I are identifying the ways that compassion and empathy are frequently used as tools of emotional manipulation, especially when they are untethered from what is true and good. Clinton’s article offers a case study in weaponized empathy.

For example, Clinton claims that empathy doesn’t “overwhelm our critical thinking or blind us to moral clarity.” But in reality, our emotions and the emotions of others can in fact overpower and obscure our vision. It’s why we say things like “I was blinded by anger” and “paralyzed by fear.” Emotions are very powerful and they can frequently sweep us off our feet. Empathy is no different, especially since it acts as a spotlight, highlighting the suffering of some and overlooking the suffering of others. It’s why more and more social scientists are recognizing the correlation between increased empathy and increased tribalism and polarization.

Rigney states neither he nor Stuckey are opposed to empathy, they just want it to be Biblical; she was quoted in that Christian Post article last year: "Empathy really has no concern with what is actually true. It's only concerned with how someone feels, which can only get you so far..."

But, what masquerades as empathy, if it is not tethered to truth, can lead people to errant and dangerous conclusions.  Rigney writes, "...it’s amazing how much cruelty and harm you can commit in the name of empathy. You can murder innocent children in the womb. You can buy and sell them on the surrogacy market. You can castrate and mutilate them when they are teenagers. You can release career criminals and repeat violent offenders into the population where one of them can brutally murder a young woman on a bus. All in the name of empathy.

The area of immigration is one in which the notion of toxic empathy becomes apparent, according to Rigney; he writes that Mrs. Clinton...

...highlights “families torn apart” because the government is enforcing our immigration laws. But what about the family of Laken Riley? They were torn apart, not by lawful deportation orders, but because an illegal immigrant murdered their daughter while she was out for a jog. And there are thousands of families like hers in this country, whose loved ones were raped or murdered or killed by illegal immigrants, many of whom were detained and released back into the country by “empathetic” government officials. But Clinton’s version of empathy has no time for families like that.

Clinton also mentions children who are afraid to go to school, presumably because ICE is seeking to enforce our immigration laws. But what about children who are afraid to go to church, because leftwing radicals disrupted their worship service and screamed in their faces? Has Clinton expressed any compassion for those children? Again, empathy is selective and feeds outrage and tribalism. Ask any of those agitators who stormed the church and terrified those kids, “Are you an empathetic person?” Every one of them will say “Yes. In fact, empathy is what motivated me to disrupt that church service.”

Empathy - which is highly dependent on emotion and a dramatic lack of belief in consequences - is highly deceptive.  In Rigney's words, "...Clinton’s call for empathy is simply cover for fraud at every level—from health care to education, from Somali daycares to government contracts, from refugee status to voter verification..."   He states, "We intend to obey God and love our neighbors with courage and clarity. And yes, with compassion, the kind embodied and modeled by Christ himself...," adding, "Weaponized empathy got us into this mess. Only biblical courage can get us out of it."

This has touched off more discussion on this subject; David French, for instance, who routinely chides Christians who don't believe in his progressive-leaning ways, who teamed up with Russell Moore and Curtis Chang to sell his brand of progressive politics to unsuspecting churches, has described "Christians who hate empathy."  But, empathy is not a fruit of the spirit, last time I checked - it can be positive, when exercised Biblically, but negative, when not grounded in truth, to make others think one is more pious than he or she actually is, when used as a tool, even a weapon, to virtue-signal and shame Christians who are attempting to live Biblically.

Love is kind, the Bible says. But it is not reckless.  It rejoices in the truth; it doesn't pretend to coddle those who, while made in the image of God, do not reflect the character of God. We should still be compassionate toward those who show a disregard for the ways of God, but we should also rightly speak the truth of God.  In the name of empathy, we should not tolerate sin, rather, we should promote righteousness.  In an age of tolerance, our higher ambition should be to exalt and model the presence of Christ.