Context

A while back, a person said this

It was in reference to Bishop Mariann Budde, who gave an inaugural prayer service with Trump/Vance in attendance. She finished her sermon as such:

"Let me make one final plea, Mr. President. Millions have put their trust in you and, as you told the nation yesterday, you have felt the providential hand of a loving God. In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now. There are gay, lesbian, and transgender children in Democratic, Republican and Independent families, some who fear for their lives. And the people, the people who pick our crops and clean our office buildings, who labor in poultry farms and meat packing plants, who wash the dishes after we eat in restaurants and work the night shifts in hospitals. They, they may not be citizens or have the proper documentation, but the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals. They pay taxes and are good neighbors. They are faithful members of our churches and mosques, synagogues, wadara and temples. I ask you to have mercy, Mr. President, on those in our communities whose children fear that their parents will be taken away and that you help those who are fleeing war zones and persecution in their own lands, to find compassion and welcome here. Our God teaches us that we are to be merciful to the stranger for we were all once strangers in this land. May God grant us the strength and courage to honour the dignity of every human being, to speak the truth to one another in love and walk humbly with each other and our God for the good of all people. The good of all people in this nation and the world." (h/t to Carmen McCain for the transcript)

Thoughts

Empathy as a sin is a symptom a diseased mindset. It is a worldview beset by paranoia and fear of the Other. A conceptualization of the world that knows as truth (note the lowercase T) there are people that want to take away their comforts. It is a world of winners and losers, where every individual belongs firmly in one category or the other. There is no grey, only black and white.

Lost are the sheep that follow this ideology; we are world of plenty. There are no losers, just those that have not been given advantages others have. To let them suffer and die, especially to protect one's own creature comforts, is a deeply shameful act. This is the Truth.

We could easily support those around us, those we consider beyond saving, but we elect not to and elect people to do so as well. The American Project as a whole is on its last legs. A country cannot sustain such a poisonous ideology. It rots from the inside out until a sudden, violent collapse.

Let us not commit the sin of fear instead. Let us trust and aid our fellow person. The world is a brighter place when those struggling are offered a hand instead of furious scorn. We must refuse to let our dreams be poisoned, and struggle for a better tomorrow.