Leadership and the Sin of Empathy: Compassion and Its Counterfeits

The so-called virtue of empathy is the greatest rhetorical tool of manipulation in the 21st century.

Because love is a real virtue, empathy’s power is in posing as selfless care for victims.

A sad polar bear paces as David Attenborough informs you that the family suburban is melting the ice caps.

“Jesus was an asylum seeker!” the sign reads at an Open Borders Rally.

A forlorn Bruno wishes he too could change in the women’s locker room, a place he’s always known he belonged.

“My mom said if we don’t go she’ll be just devastated.”

When you reject the sin of empathy, you reject the manipulation of the media, the manipulation of family and friends, and most importantly, the manipulation of your own heart.

In The Sin of Empathy, Joe Rigney challenges one of the most celebrated virtues of modern culture. While compassion and love are Biblical commands, empathy has increasingly become a tool used to manipulate emotions, silence truth, and reshape Christian convictions.

While Scripture commands compassion, mercy, and love for others, Rigney argues that modern understandings of empathy often go beyond biblical compassion and can be used to manipulate emotions, cloud judgment, and pressure Christians to compromise their convictions.

Addressing some of the most pressing cultural issues facing believers today- including social justice, gender ideology, leadership, family, and public life. This thought-provoking book equips readers with a framework for practicing biblical love without surrendering biblical truth.

Drawing from Scripture, theology, and Christian worldview principles, Rigney explores how emotional appeals can bypass wisdom and moral clarity, leading individuals and churches away from faithful obedience. Rather than rejecting compassion, he calls Christians to embrace a deeper, more biblical form of love rooted in truth, discernment, wisdom, and God's design.

Ideal for readers who love reading books on Christian cultural engagement, biblical discernment, apologetics, and Christian living, The Sin of Empathy offers a timely challenge to one of the most influential moral assumptions of our age.

A compelling read for those seeking to strengthen their Christian worldview, navigate cultural pressures with confidence, and remain grounded in biblical truth.

Joe Rigney serves as Fellow of Theology at New Saint Andrews College and as Associate Pastor at Christ Church. He is a husband, a father of three, and the author of a number of books, including Things of Earth and Leadership and Emotional Sabotage.