WHEN DID EMPATHY BECOME A SIN?

Everyone counts. Kindness matters. Love wins. Simple principles many of us try to follow, right? Few people would consider them radical.

Until recently, that is.

It feels like something has shifted in our culture. Many days I feel bewildered and exhausted.

What about you?

Politically-charged animosities have fractured so many of our communities, neighborhoods and families. Even the prospect of trying to understand one another feels threatening.

It feels to me like our social fabric is at risk.

Also our long-held tradition of caring for one another. Cutbacks in humanitarian aid have already caused more than a half a million deaths, two thirds of whom are children. Think about Sudan, Ukraine or Gaza. Here, in the US, refugees and immigrants are not just being turned away at our borders, they are being hunted, dehumanized and incarcerated without due process. Kids are being separated from their parents.

All this makes me drop to my knees in prayer.

And that was before people started calling empathy a sin.