Particle.news
Download on the App Store
3 ARTICLES
·
4w ago

Christian Right Figures Promote Anti-Empathy Theology as Progressive Clergy Push Back

The effort to recast empathy as a moral hazard is spreading through books and podcasts within Trump-aligned Christianity.

FILE - Aiden Lougee, center left, kisses his boyfriend, Rex Resa, seen between signs held by opponents to gay marriage outside of the courthouse after a hearing in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Monday, Dec. 6, 2010, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File)
FILE - The Rev. Mariann Budde, bishop of Washington's Episcopal diocese, speaks during a service outside St. John's Episcopal Church near the White House in Washington, on June 19, 2020, with a Black Lives Matter banner in the background. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)
Image

Overview

  • Allie Beth Stuckey and Joe Rigney published books arguing that certain forms of empathy are sinful or misleading, framing it as “toxic” or a counterfeit compassion.
  • Proponents say progressives exploit empathy to sell policies they oppose, citing abortion access, LGBTQ+ rights, illegal immigration and some racial justice claims.
  • Elon Musk amplified the theme by telling Joe Rogan that empathy is a fundamental weakness of Western civilization during the early months of Trump’s second term.
  • Southern Baptist leader Albert Mohler has featured Stuckey and Rigney on his podcast and favors the term sympathy over empathy, distancing himself from his 2014 call for empathy after Ferguson.
  • Progressive clergy and scholars reject the premise, with Washington National Cathedral’s Dana Colley Corsello and others insisting empathy is central to Jesus’ ministry.