As I sat down to write my daily blog, I was thinking about how so many Christians – in my little world – seem to have no empathy. Then, in an amazing act of the Spirit, my wife sent me this op-ed from yesterday’s New York Times, Opinion | Behold the Strange Spectacle of Christians Against Empathy – The New York Times. Please read it – it is excellent! My take is a bit different, but not any better. Hear me out: I have long said that when government and religion mix, all that results is monsters. The increased merging of tax money with religious endeavors would, I have said, bring about a perversion of our faith, and I think it has. Indeed, many churches have built huge additions and paid lots of salaries using the money we paid for schools and streets. It isn’t just wrong – it’s unconstitutional. And it’s immoral.
During this same period of time, I have also noticed a celebration of “Christian” cruelty. It has come out in the way people live in so many ways. Instead of the abundance of loaves and fishes, the mantra has been “let them eat cake.” Instead of voting to help those who cannot help themselves, we have repeated the line from Scrooge’s lips: “then let them die and decrease the surplus population!” In our own town, I get dozens of people every year come to me for help because “I went to so and so church, and they told me to come to you.” We do what we can, but we have limits. Having a lack of empathy as people of faith seems to have become the rule, not the exception. Is it any wonder that the world beyond our doors thinks we are not just useless, but downright cruel?
And yet, I see the other side as well. Outpouring of generosity and compassion fill the hearts and stomachs of people who hunger for food, love, and understanding. In my own church, we know when the word gets out that we have emergency food bags or Wawa cards for gas. People come to us because they are hungry, not because they are selling the generic pork and beans we give them on the dark web. A little empathy goes a long way, which is good, because there are a lot of so-called houses of god that have given up on God and decided to consort with the devil. I hope they come around, because the Gospel I know tells me that those without empathy have turned their backs on God. And God notices.
Prayer – Heal our broken understanding of You, God of empathy and love and compassion. Help make us better. Amen.
Today’s art is “Just a little dose of compassion” by Fabio Napoleoni.