‘Empathy Is Not a Thing,’ Says Albert Mohler in Response to Hillary Clinton’s Essay

“Now, by the way, some of these ends historically have been good ends,” Mohler pointed out, “clothing the naked, feeding the hungry, all of that. Very good. All Christians are called to that. But you’ll notice that she’s the one who puts in the young LGBTQ Americans in this list.”

Mohler said that the denominations that no longer hold to biblical authority “are also the ones who are pushing for, endorsing, and conducting same-sex marriages.”

“Remember,” Mohler said of Clinton, “this is someone who is way on the left on abortion, way on the left on LGBTQ issues. And let’s just say that that requires a total redefinition of Christianity.” Mohler acknowledged that it is possible that there are conservative Christians who also “misconstrue Christianity.” 

Noting Clinton’s naming of Stuckey and Rigney, Mohler said he has spoken to both authors about their perspectives on empathy. It was at this point that he shared his view that empathy is not real and contrasted it with “true Christian morality.”

“This empathy is about social posturing,” he said. 

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“Now, I realize not everyone who uses the word means it in that way, but if it is distinct from sympathy,” said Mohler, “it’s about something that is deeply politicized based in some understanding of class argument or some kind of form of oppression argument or whatever. But it is about people in general. And that’s the problem.”

“You know, it’s very easy to say, ‘I’m for people in general.’ The question is, what are you actually doing in terms of your life, your ministry, your church, your influence, in terms of actually helping people who have actual needs?” Mohler asked. “And that’s where, if you buy into the empathy argument, well, you have people who immediately transfer that to identity politics and the moral revolution.”

Reactions to Albert Mohler’s Remarks

Mohler’s comments have generated support and criticism on social media. Scholar and author Dr. Karen Swallow Prior posted a screenshot of Mohler’s recent remarks next to a 2014 screenshot of Mohler encouraging empathy after the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. “What a difference a decade (and a change in the political winds) can make,” she said.