EAST MONTPELIER – In recent months, I’ve been taken aback by things I’ve seen online that referred to empathy as both a sin and a weakness, an idea that has gained traction in some parts of the church. This is astonishing and deeply disturbing to me, as I have always believed, in the words of the Charter for Compassion, developed by acclaimed religious scholar Karen Armstrong with the contribution of thousands of people worldwide, that “The principle of compassion lies at the heart of all religious, ethical and spiritual traditions, calling us always to treat all others as we wish to be treated ourselves.” I have always believed that compassion and the associated principle of empathy are an essential part of Christianity.
The idea that empathy is either a sin or a weakness, and to proclaim this in a supposedly Christian context, is a terrible distortion of all Jesus was and all he tried to teach us to be. Time and again, Jesus took the time to listen to the stories of people from all walks of society, feeling with them in their pain and suffering. There are more stories in the gospels of Jesus’ acts of healing than of any of his other activities, and you cannot be a healer without first listening to, understanding, and deeply caring about, the plight of someone who has come to be healed. This quality of Jesus, perhaps more than any other, characterized his ministry.
And as for empathy being a weakness, It takes great strength to listen to another’s pain, great strength not to turn away from another’s suffering, great strength to go outside our own tribe and comfort zone to hear things we may not want to hear and see things we may not want to see, in order to be present to people whose lives and experiences may be very different from our own. As far as I can see, the ones who are weak and in sin here are those who don’t want to care about others and who harden their hearts to the pain and suffering happening all around us.
Elon Musk has claimed that empathy is the great weakness of Western Society, but what if empathy is one of its greatest strengths? In the decades leading up to the American Revolution, printed copies of the Bible had become more widely available. People were now able to read the Bible for themselves, and a faithful reading couldn’t help but reveal God’s call for justice for the poor and the oppressed, Jesus’ concern for the least among us, and the Apostle Paul’s declaration that, in Christ, all are equal, all are free. This led inevitably to values of fairness, equality, and human worth that became foundation stones of our democracy. And while we now realize that these values initially applied only to propertied white men, and while this country still has a long way to go to assure that they apply equally to all, they are still an inextricable part of who we are.
Understanding and believing in these foundational values depends on empathy. Why would you care about justice, or equality or human worth, if you didn’t respond to the reality and pain of others, if you weren’t able to put yourself in another’s place or to see things as they see them, even if your experience is different?
Rather than empathy being the great weakness of Western Society, it is at the very root of the democratic values we hold dear. So hold on to your empathy, care for and about others, because this is what lies at the heart of all religious, ethical and spiritual traditions.
Rev. Rona Kinsley is Pastor Emerita at The Old Meeting House in East Montpelier Center. Previously she was the interim pastor at the Greensboro United Church of Christ.
