I’m interested to see that Joe Rigney’s book “The sin of empathy” is continuing to generate a lot of passion. New Testament scholar, Robert Gagnon has posted a short article on facebook reacting to an article under the headline “Christian nationalists decided empathy was a sin, now it’s gone mainstream”. He complains about the … Continue reading Is the empathy debate really just about “untethered empathy”?
Category: ethics
Having the nature of sin
There’s an interesting little phrase in the Thirty Nine Articles, it appears in article 9 which discusses original sin. In full, the article says: “Original sin standeth not in the following of Adam, (as the Pelagians do vainly talk;) but it is the fault and corruption of the Nature of every man, that naturally is… Continue reading Having the nature of sin
Picking fights or picking your battles?
One of the challenges about engaging in discussion online, whether through blogs or social media (in fact Twitter/X was originally described as a ‘microblog’ site) is that it can sometimes feel like the conversation has got tense. It can feel like that in a conversation, both as you read what others say to you and… Continue reading Picking fights or picking your battles?
If not here, then where?
Regular readers will have observed that from time to time I include guest posts here on Faithroots. That might include where I’ve simply wanted to give someone a platform or to share something that I thought was worth wider reading. It might also include occasions where I thought it was fair to offer a right… Continue reading If not here, then where?
A Christian nation?
This is the final part of my engagement with Aaron Edwards’ articles about what he sees as the threat of Islamisation here in Britain. Last time I noted that it’s not really Islam that he has in his sights but rather it was multicultural/secular Britain today. He sees our current culture as weak in the… Continue reading A Christian nation?
Charlie Gard, injunctions and naming names
Christian Concern/The Christian Legal Centre are backing the parents of Charlie Gard who are seeking to lift an injunction on naming the Great Ormond Street medica who were involved in his care and the decision to withdraw life support For those unfamiliar with the case, Charlie Gard was a little boy with a severe medical… Continue reading Charlie Gard, injunctions and naming names
One step forward, two steps back: Keir Starmer’s proposals on immigration
Keir Starmer has made a significant contribution to the debate on immigration and introduced the government’s proposals for reducing net migration. He has insisted that implementing a cap on migration is unhelpful, I agree with him on that. He is quoted as warning that we risk “becoming a nation of strangers” without tighter rules and… Continue reading One step forward, two steps back: Keir Starmer’s proposals on immigration
Who is responsible? Education, Family, Church and state
This is part two of my look at the question of Christian education and home schooling. There are some people who chose to home school for practical reasons. That might be because of practical reasons such as they can’t find a suitable local school, their children don’t find school education works for their needs or… Continue reading Who is responsible? Education, Family, Church and state
Is home schooling default?
When I was at theological college, a few people seemed to have got really caught up in something that I found a little bewildering and surprising. They had decided that they should either home school their children or send them to a Christian school. You also got the sense that this was not a personal… Continue reading Is home schooling default?
Is Empathy a feminist thing?
In the penultimate chapter of “The Sin of Empathy”, Joe Rigney writes: “We can’t adequately address the dangers of empathy without considering feminism and its impact on the church.”[1] He quotes from a speech that Calvin Robinson made in 2024 where he argued that: Generally speaking, men tend to be more theologically rigid, whereas women… Continue reading Is Empathy a feminist thing?
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