Em-pathetic

Modern Christianity's most lethal enemy: human compassion.

Photo by A A on Unsplash

Lately the word empathy has been everywhere. On the lips of so many rich and famous and influential people. But not in any kind of positive or uplifting way like you might imagine. No, the latest red-meat-to-the-dogs line is that apparently empathy is, like, so five minutes ago. Tres passé. Maybe even a sin, if you squint your eyes real tight and hold the Bible at juuuuust the right angle! The latest and loudest and arguably most obnoxious voice as of late in this cacophony of un-Christlike cruelty is of course, Elon Musk, or if you prefer, dear leader from whom all blessings flow.

“The fundamental weakness of Western civilization is empathy.” (*Actual quote from Elon Musk’s deranged brain…)

“We’ve got civilizational suicidal empathy going on,” (*Another Musk quote that bookends beautifully with his Nazi inspired great replacement theory bullshit.)

“they’re exploiting a bug in Western civilization, which is the empathy response.” (*Yet another gem from the purported savior of Western civilization.)

Now, Elon may be the loudest and most recent example of the anti empathy movement that is currently sweeping through the nation like some meth addled white supremacist fever dream, but he is hardly alone in this push to make America hate again. In fact, you don't even have to look very hard to figure out that everything he is openly advocating for is far more insidious and purposeful than just some inherent “autistic” lack of empathy. The fact that people try to use his autism or Asperger's to excuse his utter lack of morality and humanity really pisses me right off, but that's a topic for a different rant. No, my point is that what he's doing is blasting out a Christian nationalist klaxon call. Yes, klaxon, because we are so far past the dog whistle stage that calling something a dog whistle is almost quaint at this stage of the game. What he's doing is one hundred percent Christian nationalist coded. He is trying to keep that hook as deeply embedded in that particular fish’s lip for as long as humanly possible.

Why do I say this? Well, in recent times, Christian nationalist pastors and congregants alike have entirely given up even the premise that their religion is based upon the teachings of Jesus Christ. In her best selling, Amazon five star rated book “Toxic Empathy” Allie Beth Stuckey states that she believes that empathy has become a tool of manipulation by left-wing activists who bully people into believing that they must adopt progressive positions to be loving. In this neat little rhetorical twister, love and acceptance of others unlike yourself actually becomes sinful to God. Concerned with gay rights? Concerned about a mother bleeding to death with a tubal pregnancy she's not allowed to abort? Sinful. Got that? Don't let those evil left wing activists convince you that having care and empathizing with others is a good thing.

She's not even alone. Empathy seems to be the devil of the week in Christian nationalist circles. Christian pastor Joe Rigney has authored a book literally titled “The sin of Empathy” which, in much the same vein as the tripe written by Allie Beth Stuckey, argues that human empathy is the biggest enemy the modern church faces today. That it has been “weaponized” against the church, in fact. Can you imagine being such weak little crybaby bitches that you're already allowed to pretty much say whatever you want to your church full of sheeple, you already don't pay taxes on your income or your church's income. You command vast amounts of unearned and undeserved respect simply by virtue of wearing a suit and holding a Bible on Sundays and Wednesdays…and your biggest fear in the world…your biggest enemy that the world has “weaponized” against you is human fucking compassion?

And as with all things enshittifying, these charlatans are not content with merely wielding their power trips at their churches and over their willing followers. No, these special boys and girls of the fourth reich are gung-ho and excited to burrow like RFK’s brain worms into your children's school curriculum in order to remove any kind of empathy building classes or exercises from the classroom. Can't have our good Christian nationalist boys and girls learning that other people matter, right? No, of course not. Because that would be explicitly the opposite of what the church wants them to learn. Between 2021 and 2023, at least 25 states attempted to pass bans on SEL or “Social Emotional Learning” in schools. These lessons are meant to increase students’ emotional intelligence by teaching them skills like empathy, critical thinking skills, collaborative problem solving and emotional self regulation, yet right-wing agitators insist they are simply a backdoor to things such as critical race theory and same sex acceptance, which is of course anathema to Christian nationalist principles.

These are simply a few recent examples of the Christian nationalist war on empathy in the United States and around the globe. You don't have to dig very deep to find a plethora of examples. Remember Madison Cawthorn? He managed to say the same thing without actually using the word ‘empathy’ but it boiled down to the same message: “If you are raising a young man, please raise them to be a monster,”. Kind of hard to argue otherwise.

I say this as a proud atheist who was raised up without any choice, indoctrinated into the evangelical cult from birth, marinated in their madness from the moment I mastered language. With these disgusting actions and statements, the sheer hypocrisy of the church is laid bare. Every single high-minded aspirational ideal and biblical teaching that they professed to hold so dear has been exposed for exactly what it was the entire time: bullshit and propaganda; preached from the pulpit on Sunday and ignored by the faithful the other six days of the week. Any lip service that Christians have espoused about charity, forgiveness, love, feeding the hungry, caring for the sick, compassion for the foreigner, ministering and tending to the lowest and the least amongst us, has been summarily jettisoned in favor of some newfangled conception of a religion. Cold hearted, clinical, logic based alone. Unworried about how we treat the least amongst us. Willing to let the weakest amongst us die in order to restore what white Christian men seem to think is the natural order of things.

As a person who is naturally high in empathy, it is difficult for me to not feel personally attacked by this hardline push to demonize my innate sense of compassion. I have often felt this way throughout my lifetime of dodging the insults and sneering condescension of the Christians in my life. My lifelong label of “bleeding heart liberal” was applied to me by my father decades and decades before I even knew what a liberal was. Truly, before I was ever even exposed to any kind of liberal thought. My empathy is naturally sourced. It certainly wasn't taught to me at school, where bullying and taunting and ostracization was tolerated blindly everywhere I looked.

My family are not founts of forgiveness and compassion, particularly to those who are not in their perceived class strata. I didn't have the internet, so I wasn't exposed to liberal propaganda that way either. As a younger person, less familiar with the workings of her own mind, and the political workings of the church, there might have been a time when I gave Christianity some of the credit for my finely honed sense of fairness and my deep love of humanity. I no longer believe that is the truth, however. Particularly now, when witnessing the very same people who taught me about Jesus’ deep and abiding love for all suddenly claiming that the sermon on the mount is too woke to apply to the modern world. No, I don't give Christianity any credit for that these days. What Christianity did for me was to expose the rot inherent in their belief systems. The hypocrisy and the ease with which their belief system can be hijacked by mentally ill and spiritually bereft grifters. The speed at which the congregants will assimilate and embrace this new normalizing of hatred. In short, what Christianity has done for me is to remove all the blinders I once had regarding this harmful ideology.

Where do we go from here? It is clear that this anti empathy push is coming in hot and heavy in direct collaboration with our current presidential regime as well as enormously well resourced and powerful global entities. This malevolent project is multi level, layered, and frightening in it's depth and reach. This much is true. The fact of the matter is this: we cannot trust that our children will learn compassion as a virtue from anyone but ourselves. They will continue to erode school curriculum and to defund any programs that they deem harmful to their agenda of global dominance and homogeneity. This is an inevitable fact. We absolutely cannot trust that children will get these lessons in Sunday school. In fact, I'm willing to bet that they already do not even get the lip service to compassion and empathy that I received in my childhood instructions. Too woke, I am sure. That means that it is wholly contingent upon all of us who actually care about this country and it's inhabitants to double down on teaching our children these skills without trying to rely on any outside sources. It is not enough for us to talk to them about it, either. It is incumbent upon us to lead by our actions.

How? Well, all empathy begins with good communication. Talk to your children. Be honest with them, age appropriately, of course. This world we are handing them is no bouquet of roses, and they need to get an honest and open appraisal of the situation from YOU. This includes the actual realities about people who are not as fortunate as everyone else in this world. Include them in small acts of kindness. Kids love to feel included and every time they get a positive response, it builds neural pathways that make the response a little stronger every time. When my kiddos were little, I would hand them the small bundles of bills to give to the homeless people with their signs. Not just that, I would make a point of stopping and having a conversation with that person if possible. Asking them how their day was or just engaging them in a little small talk. Human interaction is so needed in this world, and it is doled out so scrupulously and jealously. All people need it. Not just the people who make you comfortable. Let your children know that even if those people look scary or different, that doesn't mean they don't deserve kindness. Buy a giant package of water bottles and have your kids help you hand them out to the needy on a hot day. Bake cookies and distribute them on the holidays. Volunteer at a food pantry or a soup kitchen. These are just a few suggestions, but you get the idea. We must fight and push back on this drive to eradicate empathy with everything we have. Because once empathy is extinguished, there isn't much that is forbidden in the name of conquest, progress, empire, greed. We must head this off now, while the vestiges of decency still linger around the periphery, reminding us of what could be possible, what was once possible, what is still possible if only we beat back the encroaching tide of inhumanity. We have our work cut out for us, my friends, and it is important work indeed.

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As always, please spread kindness and joy everywhere that you travel. It is in short supply these days, and it is needed more than ever right now! Move those pebbles instead of trying to move the whole mountain all at once, and remember to be good to yourself as well. Most importantly, never forget that whenever you are on this giant spinning space rock, bPNWc loves you. 😻

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