Pastor Joe Rigney– a theologian at a Christian college– has a new book provocatively called “The Sin of Empathy”. It demonstrates how the attribute of empathy, when misused, can wreak havoc in the church and in politics.
Albert Mohler, who leads the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, had a discussion with Pastor Rigney that was released this morning. It is well worth watching:
It was on the Desiring God website in 2019 that Joe Rigney, who succeeded Piper as president of Bethlehem College and Seminary, wrote a post in which he borrowed from C.S. Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters to craft his own “Dear Wormwood” format to warn about the dangers of empathy. Rigney also serves as pastor of Cities Church, a Twin Cities congregation affiliated with Piper’s Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis.
Writing to his imaginary friend, Wormwood, Rigney advises: “By elevating empathy over compassion as the superior virtue, there is now an entire culture devoted to the total immersion of empathy. Books, articles and social media all trumpet the importance of checking one’s own beliefs, values, judgments and reason at the door of empathy.”
What’s wrong with empathy?
One of the dangers of empathy, he writes, is that it pulls the Christian down into the pit of sin along with the person in need. His assumption is that empathy —
unlike sympathy — requires acquiescing to any and all beliefs, including those that run counter to the Christian faith.
“Rightly used, empathy is a power tool in the hands of the weak and suffering. By it, we can so weaponize victims that they (and those who hide behind them) are indulged at every turn, without regard for whether such indulgence is wise or prudent or good for them,” he added.
In short, Rigney declares, empathy is a sin.
This topic arises again in a podcast where Rigney is interviewed by Doug Wilson, pastor of Christ Church in Moscow, Idaho. The podcast is called “Man Rampant.” The March 21 episode with Rigney is titled “The Sin of Empathy.”
On that podcast, Rigney further illustrates his problem with empathy: “Empathy is the sort of thing that you’ve got someone drowning, or they’re in quicksand, and they’re sinking. And what empathy wants to do is jump into the quicksand with them, both feet, and it feels like that’s going to be more loving, because they’re going to feel like, I’m glad that you’re here with me in the quicksand. Problem is you’re both now sinking.”
Sympathy, on the other hand, stays safely on dry land, he adds, explaining that the rescuer instead might say, “I’m going to keep one foot on the shore, and I’m actually gonna grab onto this big branch, and then I’ll step one foot in there with you and try to pull you out. That’s sympathy, and that’s actually helpful. But to the person who’s in there, it can feel like you’re judging me.”
That of necessity creates a hierarchy, Wilson notes. “Right,” Rigney replies. “It implies that one person is the hurting, and one person is the helper. … and that’s part of the problem is no one wants to feel like they’re the hurting. We want to equalize everything. And so empathy demands, ‘Get in here with me, otherwise you don’t love me.’”
Arizona pastor James White, for example, amplified the dangers of empathy on his blog March 13. White leads Alpha and Omega Ministries, a Christian apologetics organization based in Phoenix, is a seminary professor and serves as a pastor/elder of Apologia Church in Arizona.
“So what is the problem with empathy today?” he asks. “We are, in fact, told to weep with those who weep, but that assumes those who weep have a reason for weeping that is in line with God’s revelation. We are not to weep with the drug dealer who accidentally drops his stash down the storm drain in New York City. We are not to weep with the bank robber who botches the job and ends up in the slammer. We are, plainly, to exercise control even in our sympathy. We are not to sympathize with sin, nor are we to sympathize with rebellion, or evil.”
But “the new cultural orthodoxy,” he warns, has decreed to everyone, “You shall empathize.”
Warren Throckmorton is professor of psychology at Grove City College in Pennsylvania proposes a different definition of what Rigney, Wilson and others are trying to label as sin: “When Joe Rigney and Doug Wilson talk about someone jumping into quicksand with both feet, they are not describing empathy; they instead describe impulsivity. Sympathy or empathy might move a person to prosocial behavior, but strategy to conduct the behavior is another matter. A thoughtful person would perform the rescue safely; an impulsive person might just jump in. Both would be empathic, but only one would live to tell about it.”
Thanks, Fred. That provides a lot of context.
I think what Rigney is trying to highlight is the type of empathy that is not anchored in reality or biblical truth. He is particularly concerned with how the expectation of empathy can empower the dark forces to steer or manipulate people who ought to be able to take a stand for that which is right and honorable and good.
When politicians or pastors or denominational leaders are manipulated or steered into taking the wrong approach, it can be lethal.
Reminds me of the liberal position on the “homeless crisis”:
“Ignore my decisions that led me to become homeless, penniless, and drug addicted.
You have an obligation to fund my dysfunctional lifestyle without question or judgment because you have money and I don’t.
If you don’t, then you’re a bad person.”
Jaycee, there is a reason the Bible instructs us to help first the widows and the orphans.
And yes, the homeless situation is one example of the empathy vehicle the left uses. There are certain types of help that can be useful in this situation, and certain types of help that facilitate the dysfunction.