The party of Christianity appears to have a problem with Jesus.
While delivering a sermon at the National Cathedral, Episcopalisn Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde looked Donald Trump square in the face and asked him to “have mercy” on immigrants and trans kids. The president was not happy, and tore into the bishop’s message of peace in the Truth Social post, calling Budde a “Radical Left hard line Trump hater” who was “not very good at her job.”
Budde called upon the teachings of Jesus throughout her speech, reminding Trump that the person upon whom the Christianity was founded would treat America’s most vulnerable far differently that his administration intends to. Right-wing Christians disagreed.
In a post on X, Utah-based Deacon Ben Garrett warned fellow Christians not to “commit the sin of empathy” by listening to a “snake” like Budde, drawing a parallel between the bishop and Biblical depictions of Satan. “She hates God and His people,” he wrote. “You need to properly hate in response.”
“Having basic empathy is a sin now?” asked Twitter in return.
A cursory read of the Bible will demonstrate that Jesus called his followers to express a love far deeper than basic empathy. “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy,” Jesus says to his apostles in the Gospel of Matthew. “But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven.”
Ben Garrett went on to call Budde a “deceiver,” another Satanic epithet. He then gives his followers a piece of Old Testament advice: “your eye shall not pity.” The phrase is a reference for a particular dark chapter of Deuteronomy, which tells readers to take vengeance against enemies “eye for eye” and “tooth for tooth.”
The Old Testament has been used by Christians to condone violence and atrocity for centuries. Slaveowners used a particular passage from Genesis as justification for chattel slavery, and spread the bizarre belief that African peoples were descended from the sinful son the Biblical patriarch Moses, and were cursed by God to be enslaved as a result. The Old Testament has been used to bludgeon queer people as well – with a particular passage from Leviticus which calls sex between men “detestable.” The fact that Ben Garrett cherrypicks verses from the Bible’s most regressive and brutal books is telling, and shows that he is willing to forgo the New Testament teachings of Jesus in favor of a violent, jealous, fire and brimstone God characterized in earlier Biblical writings.
Jesus has a different message about what Christians should do with their eyes. Rather than look on an enemy without pity and destroy them, Jesus told his disciples pluck out their own eyes if they look on a sight that offends them.
The readers added context is right, empathy is not a sin. Generosity, kindness and humility three of seven heavenly virtues. The virtues are described as the antithesis of the seven deadly sins: lust, sloth, pride, greed, gluttony, wrath, and envy. Wrath, as exemplified by Donald Trump’s attacks on migrants and trans people. Lust, the sin Trump committed when he slept with a porn star and assaulted E. Jean Carrol. Pride, like Trump’s frequent assertions that whatever he touches is the “most” the “best” and “biggest.” Greed, like when Trump stole from his own charity.
Maybe Trump and his Christian supporters should look at their own sins before pointing fingers. Jesus also said “judge not lest ye be judged,” after all.
Published: Jan 25, 2025 05:58 am