The Christian faith is much more than feelings and good vibes:

As has been discussed so often on these pages, there are some versions of the Christian faith that are good, wholesome, and biblical. Sadly, there are other versions that are not so good and are actually harmful because they are so very unbiblical.

Progressive Christianity is a clear case in point, and I have discussed this often. Three years ago for example I discussed 20 new books on this topic: https://billmuehlenberg.com/2021/09/24/20-top-books-examining-progressive-christianity-and-the-social-justice-movement/

While we need such detailed discussions critiquing all this, we can also sometimes get truth – albeit short, punchy and pithy truth – in the form of a meme. Two recent memes making the rounds nicely summarise the sorts of things I will be discussing here:

 “If your God lets you do whatever you want to do, then your God is really you!”

“If your entire theology is ‘God is love’ and ‘Do not judge’, then you don’t have Christianity; you have Oprah.”

A brand-new book on these matters which is selling very well indeed can be highlighted here. I refer to Toxic Empathy: How Progressives Exploit Christian Compassion by Allie Beth Stuckey (Sentinel, 2024). The subtitle gives us the gist of where she is going with this.

In the name of love, compassion, tolerance and inclusion, leftists – both secular and religious – have been able to push all sorts of bad, immoral, and decidedly unbiblical agendas. These can range from socialism, abortion on demand, critical race theory, homosexuality, the erosion of freedom and democracy, cancel culture, and so on.

How many times have we heard for example that Christians should love everyone just as they are, never judge anyone, and just accept people, no questions asked. This was and is a key mantra of the left when it came to issues such as promoting homosexual marriage and the like.

Who does not want to be seen as being full of compassion, love and grace? Jesus had all this in abundance. Yet any plain reading of the gospel accounts will show us that he could be very strong in denouncing sin, in calling people to repentance, and even rebuking those whose lifestyles and views were radically divorced from that of God.

This volume lays all this out with clarity and biblical compassion. In five carefully argued and documented chapters, Stuckey explores these key areas: abortion, transgenderism, homosexuality, immigration, and social justice. She explains what she means by toxic empathy in her Introduction:

For the Christian, empathy should never compel us to affirm that which God calls sinful or to advocate for policies that are ineffective at best and deadly at worst….

This book isn’t about killing empathy. It’s about embracing God’s vision for love, order, and goodness. My goal is to equip you with commonplace, biblical truths that dismantle toxic empathy from its foundations.

Real love – the kind described by the God who created and is love (I John 4:8) – always includes truth. The two are inextricably intertwined, since true love celebrates truth (1 Cor. 13:6). Christians are called to this kind of love regardless of whether we feel empathy or not. Christians love because Christ first loved us, not because we feel a certain way or have had a particular experience (1 John 4:19).

That’s why empathy is different from love and why it also must be submissive to love. Putting yourself in someone’s shoes may help you feel their pain, but their pain isn’’ determinative of what’s true or false, right or wrong. A person for whom you feel empathy may, in their pain, believe or demand things that are untrue, unhelpful, and even harmful. We can empathize with the pain of withdrawal for a drug addict, for example, but it would be cruel to give them the heroin they crave.

This tension between empathy and love is less relevant in most everyday interactions—like when you come across a struggling mom at the airport—and more intense when it comes to the politically charged issues of our day. In these circumstances, we often confuse the empathy that motivates us to help people around us with the empathy that’s demanded of us by progressive activists. (xvii-xviii)

The five areas she discusses are all important example of this. Truth has been replaced with feelings. Faulty notions of compassion have replaced levelled-headed realism when it comes to really helping and caring for people. True love is abandoned, and mere unreliable emotion is made paramount. Consider the closing words from her chapter on abortion:

Toxic empathy is a cancer. It is used to pressure women to undergo abortions and to convince everyone else that abortion is OK. It leads to the murder of the smallest, weakest, and most vulnerable children in horrifically gruesome ways. It pulls on our heartstrings through half-baked stories and emotional talking points to persuade women and men that getting rid of their child is the only way out of whatever predicament they are in. And it leaves those same women and men with the wound of knowing deep down that they have destroyed a miracle that God had brought to life.

When it comes to abortion, compassion and pity by themselves lead to brokenness and even death. Christians offer something infinitely more valuable: truth and love. Past the headlines and the politics, Christians must relentlessly and lovingly tell and act on the truth of what abortion is, no matter the cost. Yes, we must care for mothers. Yes, we should help struggling families with Christlike charity to the greatest degree possible. But we also must stand firm and declare that abortion is not, has never, and will never be acceptable. That is the only way we can truly love the scared, pregnant mothers who don’t know what to do and the beautiful babies they carry. Lives are on the line – and they are worth fighting for. (p. 33)

As to border control and illegal immigration, Stuckey again rebukes the false compassion and the bogus love of those who see no problems with open borders and millions of illegals pouring in. Simply looking at the numbers helps to make this case:

In fiscal year 2023, Border Patrol recorded 1,254 illegal immigrants convicted of assault, battery, or domestic violence, 2,493 convicted for driving under the influence, and 2,055 for illegal drug possession and trafficking—and that’s just those arrested, tried, and convicted. This data doesn’t count any of the criminals who got away or who weren’t prosecuted thanks to the noncompliance policies of sanctuary cities.

In fiscal year 2021, Border Patrol made nearly 1.7 million apprehensions of illegal immigrants, the largest number ever recorded. That is more illegal immigrants entering in one year than the urban population of any single city in America except for New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago. It’s enough people to replace the population of New Hampshire, Maine, Rhode Island, or that of seven other states. (p. 104)

And it is not just the numbers. She shares some of the horrific stories of those who have suffered and died at the hands of some of these illegals. Some of these horror stories are now well known, since people like Trump seek to keep these realities alive and made public, while the other side seldom shares them. And Biden/Harris policies, supported by the religious left, has encourage even more people to seek to get into America.

Legal immigration of course is to be fully supported and encouraged, but when we wink at porous borders, we simply encourage millions more to seek to come in, including criminals, drug cartels, human traffickers, and others. And very real people in very real ways are being assaulted, raped and murdered as a result. Where is the compassion in that? Says Stuckey:

The danger of illegal immigration isn’t just about illegal immigrants themselves, but also the consequences of having a border that is easily crossed. Deadly drugs, weapons, and sex slaves are trafficked by cartels, and smugglers are exploiting the porous border, with great cost to human lives. The vast majority of fentanyl in the United States is smuggled across the Mexican border, thanks to a sinister partnership between Mexican cartels and the Chinese Communist Party. (p. 106)

Consider also the mantra of social justice, heard continuously by the radical left – both secular and religious. It sounds like a neat and loving idea, but when it is examined carefully and contrasted with biblical justice, its anything but. She writes:

[T]hose who push the social justice hypothesis aren’t simply pointing out instances of injustice and offering solutions to prevent them in the future. Social justice is an inherently collectivist, power-seeking ideology. It seeks widespread, top-down, systemic change by forcefully shifting power (or perceived power) for one group to another. It encompasses other forms of ____ justice: economic justice, racial justice, reproductive justice, and so on. Social justice ideology can accurately be described as the mobilization of particular grievances to accomplish left-wing political goals.

These goals may be, in some cases, well-intentioned, but good intentions are never enough. The questions we must ask of social justice advocates are: Are their claims true? Are their goals just? Are the outcomes of their policies and proposals helpful or harmful? (p. 134)

She looks at various examples of this, and what we find is a very real worry indeed. Rhetoric alone is not sufficient. Actual results that actually help people are what we really need.

In the book’s Conclusion she says this:

Toxic empathy isn’t just a cheap replacement for real, biblical love. It is its foil, its archnemesis. It’s the wolf dressed as a grandmother to trick Red Riding Hood. It’s the villain who poses as an innocent sentence civilian so he can gain access to his victims. It’s a poisonous dessert, sweet to taste but deadly when consumed….

Remember, politics matters because policy matters because people matter. Politics affect policy, and policy affects people, and people matter. We Christians, who see our neighbors as image bearers of their Creator, should understand that better than anyone.

And we do what we can with what we’re given, raising or respectful ruckus for the truth on behalf of our children and communities. We rebuff attempts at emotional manipulation hoisted upon us by toxic empathy and instead rely on God’s word and the capable minds he gave us as our guides. Over and over again, we choose truth-filled love over its poisonous counterpart, trusting that God’s ways are better and more loving than any the world could muster. (p. 168, 170)

As mentioned, a number of good books have appeared in recent years to make the case for biblical love, biblical compassion, and biblical justice. This book is the newest and is clearly among the best now out there. Please rab a copy – and grab one for a friend.

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