PloverWing
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- May 5, 2012
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So help me understand how and WHY empathy is bad.
I don't know for sure what Mr. Kirk intended, but there have been some recent books by conservative Evangelicals on the topic of empathy: "The Sin of Empathy: Compassion and its Counterfeits", by Joe Rigney, and "Toxic Empathy: How Progressives Exploit Christian Compassion", by Allie Beth Stuckey. I suspect Kirk may have had one or both of them in mind. I'm not going to be able to summarize their viewpoint fairly (I know I will end up caricaturing them, so I will refrain), but here are two relevant articles.
1) Albert Mohler interviews Joe Rigney. Note that both are favorable to the anti-empathy point of view.

The Sin of Empathy — A Conversation with Joe Rigney - AlbertMohler.com
Cultural commentary from a Biblical perspective
2) An article from the AP, posted on PBS's website. This author is more impartial, but I think the writer is trying to be fair.

Is empathy a sin? Some conservative Christians argue it can be
Those Christians claim empathy can manipulate people into accepting what they see as sins, like abortion access and LGBTQ+ rights.

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