A call to pity that disturbs

The appeal occurred in January, the day after the nomination of Donald Trump, while the politician enjoyed his return to the presidency after a long crossing of the desert.

“I ask you to have mercy on the people of our country who are afraid at the moment,” said Protestant bishop Mariann Budde Budde, expressly evoking immigrants in an irregular situation and transgender people at the end of his sermon.

The new head of state, visibly annoyed, did not take time to defend it, stressing that it was nothing more than a “radical leftist” motivated by hatred rather than by compassion.

Other voices from the Protestant community have taken over to defend the politician and his administration and portray the discourse of the 65 -year -old bishop as an illustration of the perils of empathy.

Joe Rigney, professor of theology attached to the New Saint Andrews College, a Christian establishment in Idaho, went so far as to speak of “sin” in an evangelical publication.

The ability of women to apprehend and share the emotions of others, which is, he says, greater than that of men, can represent a “blessing” in certain cases, but a damnation in others.

When it comes to enforcing the standards of justice, empathy is a nuisance, not an asset.

Joe Rigney, professor of theology attached to the New Saint Andrews College, in an evangelical publication

Rigney also argued that men were better placed than women to protect the population from “physical, but also spiritual threats”.

He returned to the charge a month later by publishing a book entitled The sin of empathy recently pinned by the daily The Guardian in a long article on the phenomenon.

The author argues that empathy can become a sin if it goes beyond “biblical truth” on questions like homosexuality and gender identity.

The sacred texts underline, he concedes, that it is necessary to watch over his neighbor, but believers must be careful not to get carried away by an “excess of compassion” likely to “make them lose their ground”.

The believer returns to the role of women, arguing that the progressive policies he denounces in the fight against crime or immigration management arise from a “victim culture” linked to “toxic female empathy”.

While avoiding these misogynist flights, a popular Balado animator identifying herself as an evangelical Christian takes on similar theses in another recent book entitled Toxic empathy – how progressives exploit Christian compassion.

Allie Beth Stuckey claims that empathic manifestations can represent neither more nor less than “hateful” acts if they derogate from biblical lessons.

Yes, toxic empathy is satanic … She makes her victims weak and fragile by convincing them that the fight against evil is nasty and that goodness can replace obedience to God.

Allie Beth Stuckey, in his book Toxic empathy – how progressives exploit Christian compassion

The author reviews several social issues by resuming in each case, examples in support, the same argument structure.

In the case of abortion, for example, she notes that one can be moved from the situation of a woman who learns late that she carries a malformed fetus and will not be able to obtain an abortion.

Real empathy must however go to the fetus, described as a full -fledged human being who is “murdered” in the event of voluntary termination of pregnancy. It then describes at length the procedures inherent in a late abortion, going so far as to establish an almost direct link between the regulation of births, eugenics and Nazism.

On the question of gender identity, she notes that believers should not forget that “our bodies have been conceived in certain ways” and that rejecting it “has a significant cost”, regardless of the sympathy felt for people “suffering from confusion” on this subject.

On immigration, the author notes that one can move from a mother of Mexican origin established for a long time which is returned to Mexico and forced to live far from her children. However, it is also necessary to take into account, she says, the sordid murders linked to undocumented migrants and consider that God asks that things be ordered, including borders.

“You have to show empathy, but only the” good “sort of empathy,” concludes M^me Stuckey.

Susan Lanzoni, a science historian who wrote a book on the history of empathy, notes that she is generally deemed positive and likely to lead to laudable actions.

The negative connotation that some authors want to associate today seems to have the objective of stifling compassion that can be experienced for victims of the Trump administration policies.

“These policies obviously aim to vilify certain groups of the population. To give up empathy in this context is a trap that can lead us collectively on a dangerous path, ”she warns.

John Compton, professor of political science who wrote in 2020 a work entitled The End of Empathy: Why White Protestants Stopped Loving Their Neighborsis also of the opinion that recent writings on the potentially negative impact of empathy have political aims.

Almost 80 % of believers linked to evangelical Protestant churches voted for Donald Trump. Many are likely, by seeing the hardest policies of the administration, to feel a form of “cognitive dissonance” in relation to traditional Christian teachings advocating the love of his neighbor, notes the researcher.

The idea that empathy is dangerous is really far from what is associated with Christianity … It seems difficult in this context to find theological arguments supporting this vision of things.

John Compton, professor of political science

Vice-president JD Vance, who has converted to Catholicism, has shown that exercise is perilous by trying to evoke a theological concept dating from the Middle Ages to defend the idea that it is appropriate to treat migrants less generously than its neighbors, members of its immediate community and his country. Pope Francis rebuilt him publicly on this subject shortly before his death.

A la carte belief

It is necessary to be careful, notes Mr. Compton, not to exaggerate the scope of books recently published on this subject or their potential influence, in particular among evangelical Protestants.

The traditional Protestant churches which prevailed in the first half of the XX^e century have played an important social role by promoting significant reforms to fight against social inequalities.

However, they lost a lot of influence in the 1960s, yielding ground in the face of evangelical churches which allow a more “personal” practice of religion, less restrictive than those of traditional churches.

“Today is the consumer who decides. If a person does not like what a pastor says, they will go to see elsewhere, ”notes the researcher.

The ideological evolution of these churches, which have gradually slipped to the right, reflects first and foremost the evolution of the positions of the white population without university education, he says.

Rather, they followed the line of thought, validating individualistic tendencies which echo in many policies defended by the Trump administration.

Social commitment is today more a personal choice than a diktat from religious leaders, notes Mr. Compton, who is not surprised, in this context, to see people focusing on their own needs regardless of what can happen to marginalized people.

“I am rather a pessimist in what relates to human nature,” he says.