Wayward Christian Empathy
October 12, 2025 Leave a comment
Want to see what Christian empathy tends to look like?
No. This pop-project isn’t satire. The Church of England, so obsessed with its moral performance, really did cover the interior of the oldest cathedral in England in graffiti in order to represent themselves to the world.
As reported by The Independent,
The installation created by poet Alex Vellis is designed to contrast with the ancient, traditional architecture in the church to offer new interpretations of faith and worship.
Per the partnered gay priest and dean of Canterbury, David Monteith, “There is a rawness which is magnified by the graffiti style, which is disruptive. There is also an authenticity in what is said because it is unfiltered and not tidied up or sanitised. Above all, this graffiti makes me wonder why I am not always able to be as candid, not least in my prayers.
“This exhibition intentionally builds bridges between cultures, styles and genres and, in particular, allows us to receive the gifts of younger people who have much to say and from whom we need to hear much.”
“Mr Vellis said the language of the graffiti was “of the unheard”.
He added: “By temporarily graffitiing the inside of Canterbury Cathedral, we join a chorus of the forgotten, the lost, and the wondrous. People who wanted to make their mark, to say ‘I was here’, and to have their etchings carry their voice through the centuries.”
Reading the motivation behind the Church of England’s self-vandalizing approach to empathy, one has to wonder, as with many decisions made in our times, – where are the adults? And what is next on the empathy checklist? Will the CoE leaders, in order build “bridges between cultures, styles and genres” and to “welcome the stranger,” get tattoos and piercings? Hand out drugs and needles? Perform a satanic mass?
The understanding, resonating, and self-differentiating human voices of previous centuries are becoming the “chorus of the forgotten, the lost, and the wondrous,” the voices “of the unheard” in the Church of England, throughout Europe, and the U.S. Those voices are deemed non-empathetic and must be shouted over with graffiti.
Those who, with ancient wisdom, made their mark of truth, beauty, and goodness, must now be overwritten with graffiti.
The desire to look like the world, like walking in another’s shoes, as inclusive and pluralistic, is beneficial for the state and its open borders immigration policies which deface homelands and cultures with graffiti.
Per Olivia Murray at American Thinker,
“Canterbury Cathedral, a sixth-century English church—making it more than 1,400 years old—has gotten a paint job…in graffiti. And as it turns out, this act of vandalism wasn’t an act of street delinquency, it was actually commissioned by the church’s stewards. . ..”
“Call me crazy, but this seems counterproductive. Real Englanders, Brits by blood and spirit, with an undying love for their culture and home, are beyond fed up with what the Dean of Canterbury calls “marginalized communities.” These “marginalized communities” are parasitic, they’re destroying the cohesion of England and the nation’s society, and they’re given preferential treatment by the government, that’s ostensibly, representing the English people.”
Murray continues:
“Progressives really have an extraordinary ability to turn something unbelievably precious and beautiful into utter trash—how can you make Canterbury Cathedral look like a derelict warehouse in an inner city, or resemble a dirty freight train car?”
~~~
Christian empathy tends to be wayward, moving away from truth, beauty and goodness and toward a seamless identity with what those in the world think they need and want – a trait that Jesus never had.
Christian empathy tends toward a desire to be seen as acceptable to the world so that the world would, by virtue of such, respond – a trait that Jesus never had.
As we read the hymn in Philippians 2, we learn that Jesus made himself accessible to the world.
As we read in gospel according to John 2:13-25, we learn of his distinctiveness from the world, from what those in the world thought they needed and wanted.
When the Court of the Gentiles within the temple ground, the place designated for believing Gentiles to pray and worship became cluttered with the clink of coins, the braying of animals, and the sounds of commerce, Jesus, “Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, with the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. He told those who were selling the doves, “Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!” His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.
Note in the above accounts of the desecration of the cathedral, the SJW go-to descriptor ‘marginalised communities’. This indicates the current naming convention that paints humans in the Marxist graffiti of “oppressed” and “oppressor” while avoiding terms that speak of repentance and redemption.
~~~
It is easy to snicker in utter disgust at the perversion of an ancient cathedral, but what are Christians doing with what they have been given? Are Christians preserving the good, the true, the beautiful that has been passed down? Are Christians adding or subtracting to what we’ve been given. Are Christians looking at screens all day?
Should Christians continue to build churches that look like commercial buildings? It seems that after the reformation, Protestants decided that beauty wasn’t utilitarian so why bother with it.
Are we composing music that goes beyond the folksy and often cloying church worship music? Are we writing operas, symphonies, fugues, sonatas? Hymns with actual embedded theology?
Are we creating works of art and literature that draw people to them or are we on screens and social media all day looking at and posting pictures? Early Christian art showed the immanence of God—his closeness to us—and his transcendence, his otherness. The Chosen is not art. It is redux sentimentality akin to watching a rerun of a Billy Grahm crusade or using crayons to color a Jesus picture.
Are we writing poetry that examines life – the wounding, the good, the true and the beautiful? Or, is that the purpose of MSM? Knowing God involves both spiritual and sensory engagement. Poetry can express both.
None of the above prompts are utilitarian and instantly beneficial. Hence, some will avoid a second thought about them.
From stained glass to straining for attention, the graffiti installation recognizes the ego in rebellion to the good, the true and the beautiful while virtue signaling empathy. Not only is the installation profane, it is an act of profound laziness. Evil is lazy and does not promote the spiritual growth of another.
The church of England, the dancing daughter of Herodias, offers its beguiling movements to please guests and the reigning authority. This while John the Baptist, who called people from all strata of society including King Herod to repentance, sits tied up in jail, his head to be removed with the axe of “Silence!”
Want to see what Christian empathy tends to look like?
The Brave New World’s Arch-Community Songster of Canterbury
There is an intense irony here that gets to the heart of the self-inflicted problems of the Church of England today. Sarah Mullally has been very clear on the kind of Church she believes in – she’s a supporter of LGBTQ+ rights and activism, she has strongly backed asylum and migration, she is a self-declared feminist, and she is both politically and it seems religiously progressive. As Bishop of London, she boasted about representing a diverse and multicultural city, and put her experience in handling diversity as one of the key qualifications and evidence of positive experience she could bring to being the Archbishop of Canterbury. (Emphasis mine.)
“The Church of England has lost 80 per cent of Anglicans on the planet” « Quotulatiousness
Added 10-18-2025:
Helen Andrews | Overcoming the Feminization of Culture | NatCon 5
Helen [Andrews] argues that the rise of “wokeness” wasn’t born from Marxism, academia, or even Obama-era politics. That in itself had people shocked. Helen theorizes that it actually came from something way simpler… the quiet but steady feminization of America’s most powerful institutions.
Helen Andrews wrote in The Great Feminization | Compact
“Wokeness is not a new ideology, an outgrowth of Marxism, or a result of post-Obama disillusionment. It is simply feminine patterns of behavior applied to institutions where women were few in number until recently . . .
Everything you think of as wokeness involves prioritizing the feminine over the masculine: empathy over rationality, safety over risk, cohesion over competition . . .
“The threat posed by wokeness can be large or small depending on the industry . . . The field that frightens me most is the law. All of us depend on a functioning legal system, and, to be blunt, the rule of law will not survive the legal profession becoming majority female. The rule of law is not just about writing rules down. It means following them even when they yield an outcome that tugs at your heartstrings or runs contrary to your gut sense of which party is more sympathetic.
“The problem is not that women are less talented than men or even that female modes of interaction are inferior in any objective sense. The problem is that female modes of interaction are not well suited to accomplishing the goals of many major institutions.”
~~~~~
“THE EIGHT PRINCIPLES OF UNCIVILISATION
1. We live in a time of social, economic and ecological unravelling. All around us are signs that our whole way of living is already passing into history. We will face this reality honestly and learn how to live with it.
2. We reject the faith which holds that the converging crises of our times can be reduced to a set of ‘problems’ in need of technological or political ‘solutions’.
3. We believe that the roots of these crises lie in the stories we have been telling ourselves. We intend to challenge the stories which underpin our civilisation: the myth of progress, the myth of human centrality, and the myth of our separation from ‘nature’. These myths are more dangerous for the fact that we have forgotten they are myths.
4. We will reassert the role of storytelling as more than mere entertainment. It is through stories that we weave reality.
5. Humans are not the point and purpose of the planet. Our art will begin with the attempt to step outside the human bubble. By careful attention, we will reengage with the non-human world.
6. We will celebrate writing and art which is grounded in a sense of place and of time. Our literature has been dominated for too long by those who inhabit the cosmopolitan citadels.
7. We will not lose ourselves in the elaboration of theories or ideologies. Our words will be elemental. We write with dirt under our fingernails.
8. The end of the world as we know it is not the end of the world full stop. Together, we will find the hope beyond hope, the paths which lead to the unknown world ahead of us.”
― Paul Kingsnorth, Uncivilisation: The Dark Mountain Manifesto
Why I’m Taking Music & Art Lessons – Margarita Mooney Clayton
The Satisfaction of Making Art – Margarita Mooney Clayton
~~~~~
From St. Augustine’s Confessions (Book 10, Chapter 27). St. Augustine reflects back on his own conversion from a life of profligacy to one of love and intimacy with God.
Chapter XXVII.-He Grieves that He Was So Long Without God.
Too late did I love Thee, O Fairness, so ancient, and yet so new! Too late did I love Thee For behold, Thou wert within, and I without, and there did I seek Thee; I, unlovely, rushed heedlessly among the things of beauty Thou madest. Thou wert with me, but I was not with Thee. Those things kept me far from Thee, which, unless they were in Thee, were not. Thou calledst, and criedst aloud, and forcedst open my deafness. Thou didst gleam and shine, and chase away my blindness. Thou didst exhale odours, and I drew in my breath and do pant after Thee. I tasted, and do hunger and thirst. Thou didst touch me, and I burned for Thy peace.
https://orthodoxchurchfathers.com/fathers/npnf101/npnf1027.html#P1660_683954
~~~~~
The Ghent Altarpiece (Adoration of the Mystic Lamb) (1432) by Jan van Eyck
Cindy Wity 
The Inside Out Story
January 26, 2026 Leave a comment
“Evil intentions come from inside, out of people’s hearts.”-Jesus
In the world you will have . . . the content of their character, coming out as . . .
Cruel, intolerant, intimidating, subversive, disruptive, antagonistic, rude, lazy, overindulged, abusive, deceitful, corrupt, amoral, unlawful, power hungry, confederate, self-deceiving, addled, mentally and emotionally stunted, neurotic, narcissistic, manipulative, antisocial, psychotic, borderline psychotic, unruly, destructive, evasive, duplicitous . . . as persecution.
These traits aptly describe what comes out of the Lord-of-the-Flies Left in all of its manifestations – Democrats, Progressives, Democratic Socialists of America, ANTIF, BLM, NGOs, NGO paid protestors, MSM, and Globalists. These characteristics also describe a good many Islamists. The most recent examples of what comes out of the Left has been exhibited by Democratic governance in Minnesota, by ICE protestors, and by Somalis.
What Comes Out of Them is Deliberate Deception:
Don’t buy what comes out of the MSM (CNN, MSNOW, NYT, WaPo, ABC, CBS, NBC, etc.) about the ICE protestors and the Somali fraudsters. The so-called journalists on these ‘news’ sites are wanna-be script writers who push the content of their character onto everyone with their narrative. And like street gang members, they have a no-snitch code for their comrades in arms who go about breaking the law at every turn. It seems that the MSM’s purpose these days is to make the world bleed so it can lead with the story.
The media will deceive by framing both the law and the good guys as bad. Instead of taking in what comes out of MSM, see what you see.
And, don’t go by what comes out of the mouth of Democratic pols (Waltz, Frey, Ellison). With the aid of mother media, they cover their asses just like anyone under investigation on the real-life crime shows.
To wit: Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, on ABC’s “This Week” characterized the violent confrontations – the riots, assaults, and lawlessness – targeting federal immigration agents in his city as an expression of “love.”
Minneapolis. January 7. Renee Nicole Good, as an expression of “love” and encouraged by what came out of the mouth of her lesbian lover, directed her vehicle into an ICE agent. She was shot as the agent defended himself against being crushed. (MADD would certainly agree that a vehicle is a deadly weapon.) Sponsored activist mob mayhem followed as an expression of “love.”
Minneapolis. Sunday, January 18th. More organized mayhem. A mob, led by Black Lives Matter organizers and encouraged by a video posted on social media, stormed into an area church during a service. Inside the sanctuary of Cities Church, agitators loudly chanted “Justice for Renee Good.”
See what you see when Don Lemon and ‘Sanctuary City’ Radicals Invade Minneapolis Church.
On Sunday, Don Lemon and a group of radical, anti-ICE left-wing extremists stormed a Minneapolis church. They barreled into a house of worship while families with young children were praying and proceeded to harass and intimidate congregants based on supposed “intel” that someone connected to the church had ties to ICE.
WHOOPS: Don Lemon’s live stream is a goldmine of evidence against him… – Revolver News
With displays of ersatz moral sanctimony, the Machine politics of Left destroys people and their place in the world and their past and their sacred space, their house of prayer. What comes out of the Left is not “love”. What comes out of the wild boar Left is grunting, posturing, and bristling followed by picking fights to see who is the stronger.
What Comes Out of Them is Stupid
When the Pharisees confronted Jesus about his disciples eating with unwashed hands, he responded to their desire to harass him and his disciples about the performative ritual purity they were so concerned with. He got under their skin when he said . . .
“What makes someone unclean,” Jesus went on, “is what comes out. Evil intentions come from inside, out of people’s hearts – sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, wickedness, treachery, debauchery, envy, slander, pride, stupidity. These evil things all come from inside. They are what make someone unclean.” Mark 7:20-23
Note that stupidity is on the list of evil intentions. The stupid act without sense. In the matter at hand, the stupid ramp up their violence-instigating rhetoric because they simply are not able to discuss or persuade – they lack sense. Force is all they have left, and they will use it. And so it is that the NGO paid army of activists, agitators and provocateurs – useful idiots all – descend into savagery that a mayor describes as acts of brotherly “love.”
Rory Miller, “a corrections officer and sergeant working booking, maximum security, and mental health units” and “trained corrections and enforcement officers, primarily in force-related skills… and force policy” wrote in his book Force Decisions: A Citizen’s Guide that . . .
“If you have to be defiant, don’t be stupid about it. Argue, if you absolutely have to, but show the officer your hands. If the officer says, “Show me your hands!” and you say, “No,” you have given the officer no choice but to assume that you have a weapon ready to deploy. This is so stupid—right up there with checking for gas leaks with matches—it shouldn’t even need to be said, but it happens. Being defiant about something stupid can escalate a verbal situation to deadly force for childish, immature ego.”
“If the officer ever uses the magic phrase, ‘For your safety and mine, I need you to…’ do it. That is a solid signal that the officer perceives this as an issue of safety, and the officer will absolutely use force if you do not comply.” (Emphasis mine.)
A Citizen’s Guide to Violence in Minneapolis › American Greatness
What Comes Out of Them is Lawlessness
Richard Lawson at The Free Press writes Sanctuary Cities are Built on Shaky Law:
Federal law makes it a crime to “encourage” illegal immigration, which is exactly what Tim Walz and Jacob Frey are doing.
The Supreme Court recently clarified that federal law is violated when a person provides “assistance to a wrongdoer with the intent to further an offense’s commission.” It is also unlawful to knowingly act in support of illegal aliens residing in the U.S., or even to conspire to help them remain here.
(Emphasis mine.)
Democratic governors and mayors in Minnesota, Oregon and Illinois have gone so far as to actively enable the chaos by withdrawing police protection. And, Dem Leaders Move to Block Funding for ICE, DHS.
Fools escalate violent rhetoric:
Dem AG Suggests People Can Shoot Masked ICE Agents Under Stand-Your-Ground Laws.
April 17, 2025, Columnist David Brooks of the NYT wrote an opinion column openly and explicitly called for a mass uprising alluding to a Communist revolution.
Headline USA writes:
“Agitators aren’t just targeting our officers. Now they’re targeting churches, too,” the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency stated. “They’re going from hotel to hotel, church to church, hunting for federal law enforcement who are risking their lives to protect Americans. (Emphasis mine.)
The ordained reverend “Nekima Levy Armstrong, who participated in the protest and leads the local grassroots civil rights organization Racial Justice Network, dismissed the potential DOJ investigation as a sham.
“When you think about the federal government unleashing barbaric ICE agents upon our community and all the harm that they have caused, to have someone serving as a pastor who oversees these ICE agents, is almost unfathomable to me,” said Armstrong.
ICE should not back down one iota no matter the threats or moral posturing against them. All illegal invaders must go home. President Trump will be justified to invoke the Insurrection Act.
The Trump administration is working to clean up the horrible mess the four years of the illegitimate Biden regime created. That mess includes the 20-30 million illegal invaders that are taking jobs and taxpayer money and bringing in the content of their character.
Understand, the invasion was done on purpose to destroy the U.S. There is much more going on here than meets the fixated eye. You won’t get this understanding from the talking heads of MSM. They are in on it. The immigrants were sent here to destroy the U.S.
Read the newly published The Invisible Coup: How American Elites and Foreign Powers Use Immigration as a Weapon by Peter Schweizer.
No Christian should be swayed by MSM or by Progressive Christianity’s “Welcome the stranger” social justice tactics. No Christian should be muddled in their thinking about legal mass deportations.
~~~
In the world you will have . . . the content of their character – fraudulent Islamists enabled by Democrats.
The amount of fraudulent billing in Minnesota’s Medicaid programs could be as high as $9 billion, Assistant United States Attorney Joe Thompson said Dec. 18.
The ADL’d – the Machine combine of America and Democracy Last – don’t seem to care that the Minnesota Somali fraudsters stole billions of taxpayer dollars to spend on themselves and to send to Somalia. The Somalis were enabled by Democratic governance with its (purposeful?) lack of oversight in Minnesota and other Blues states.
What struck me most about the Minnesota case was not only the scale of the theft but the silence surrounding it. The fraud appears to have operated in plain sight within tightly knit circles, yet few people spoke out. . .
According to federal indictments, the stolen money flowed through networks bound by kinship and loyalty. The theft was large, coordinated, and sustained. What stood out was not only who took the money, but who stayed silent. In societies with strong civic norms, whistleblowing is often praised, or at least protected. In tightly bound clan systems, speaking out can mean punishment.
High-trust societies solve this dilemma by extending cooperation beyond family and tribe. Laws, institutions, and norms reinforce the idea that cheating ultimately harms everyone, including oneself. Low-trust societies work differently. Trust is reserved for kin. Outsiders are assumed to cheat. In that environment, cheating is not necessarily immoral. It is often rational, expected, and even applauded.
Somalia And The High Cost Of Low Trust | ZeroHedge
Senseless people vote for senseless people. That’s how Minnesota has tanked under Waltz, Frey, and Ellison.
Senseless people voted in NYC for a Democratic Socialist Jihadi Shia Muslim deeply critical of Israel who wants to “globalize the intifada.”
And citizens of Virgina will now suffer because the senseless elected Abigail Spanberger as its governor and reps who encourage lawlessness and impose tyranny. This New Virginia Law Helps Illegals Vote for Democrats
~~~~~
Concerned about the content of his older brother’s character, Russian playwright, short-story writer, and doctor Anton Chekhov (26), wrote a letter of advice to Nikolai (28), a talented painter, writer, and alcoholic. In 1886, Chekhov writes:
“To my mind, civilized people ought to satisfy the following conditions:
1. They respect the individual and are therefore always indulgent, gentle, polite and compliant. They do not throw a tantrum over a hammer or a lost eraser. When they move in with somebody, they do not act as if they were doing him a favor, and when they move out, they do not say, “How can anyone live with you!” …
2. Their compassion extends beyond beggars and cats. They are hurt even by things the naked eye can’t see. If for instance, Pyotr knows that his father and mother are turning gray and losing sleep over seeing their Pyotr so rarely (and seeing him drunk when he does turn up), then he rushes home to them and sends his vodka to the devil….
3. They respect the property of others and therefore pay their debts.
4. They are candid and fear lies like the plague. They do not lie even about the most trivial matters. A lie insults the listener and debases him in the liar’s eyes. They don’t put on airs, they behave in the street as they do at home, and they do not try to dazzle their inferiors. They know how to keep their mouths shut and they do not force uninvited confidences on people. Out of respect for the ears of others they are more often silent than not.
5. They do not belittle themselves merely to arouse sympathy. They do not play on people’s heartstrings to get them to sigh and fuss over them. They do not say, “No one understands me!” or “I’ve squandered my talent on trifles!” because this smacks of a cheap effect and is vulgar, false and out-of-date.
6. They are not preoccupied with vain things. They are not taken in by such false jewels as friendships with celebrities, handshakes with drunken Plevako, ecstasy over the first person they happen to meet at the Salon de Varietes, popularity among the tavern crowd….
7. If they have talent, they respect it. They sacrifice comfort, women, wine and vanity to it….
8. They cultivate their aesthetic sensibilities. They cannot stand to fall asleep fully dressed, see a slit in the wall teeming with bedbugs, breathe rotten air, walk on a spittle-laden floor or eat off a kerosene stove. They try their best to tame and ennoble their sexual instinct…
And so on. That’s how civilized people act. If you want to be civilized and not fall below the level of the milieu you belong to, it is not enough to read The Pickwick Papers and memorize a soliloquy from Faust. It is not enough to hail a cab and drive off to Yakimanka Street if all you’re going to do is bolt out again a week later.
You must work at it constantly, day and night. You must never stop reading, studying in depth, exercising your will. Every hour is precious.”
Letters of Anton Chekhov to His Family and Friends (public domain | public library)
~~~~~
Why are poets and storytellers being drawn towards Christ? In this bonus episode Justin Brierley speaks to two adult converts to Christianity whose stories overlap in remarkable ways.
Celebrated poet and author Paul Kingsnorth, and mythologist and storyteller Martin Shaw, both had unexpected conversions that have led them into the Orthodox church.
Episode 9 – Paul Kingsnorth & Martin Shaw: A poet and mythologist convert – Justin Brierley ⬩ Think Faith
Royce White, a Voice from the Belly of the Beast Minnesota:
https://americasvoice.news/video/1L3WPrlAlN0ouni/
https://americasvoice.news/playlists/show/the-royce-white-show/
https://www.youtube.com/@pleasecallmecrazypodcast
~~~~~
Marginalia:
See what you see here: Arrested: Worst of the Worst | Homeland Security
In past articles I have tried to plead with conservatives to recognize that these activists are NOT sincere fellow citizens engaging in legitimate protest. They are a mercenary army paid to go to war. I’ll say it once again: WE ARE AT WAR. We need to start acting like it.
When there are no consequences for bad behavior, bad behavior will escalate into violence and chaos. It’s important to understand that the political left is made up largely of people who are emotionally stunted. They are toddlers trapped in adult bodies. And, like spoiled children, they act the way they do because they have never been spanked.
Maybe It’s Time For Conservative Patriots To Rally In Minneapolis | ZeroHedge
Approximately 3,000 federal agents are currently deployed in Minnesota, as part of an immigration operation dubbed “Operation Metro Surge.” The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced on Monday that the operation has resulted in the arrests of 3,000 criminal illegal aliens, “including vicious murderers, rapists, child pedophiles, and incredibly dangerous individuals.” (Emphasis mine.)
Walz, Ellison, Frey’s Offices Served Grand Jury Subpoenas › American Greatness
~~~~~
Amelia:
So, what was already disturbing now looks downright corrupt. It turns out that one of the men caught on video inside the church, pumping his fist while terrified children cried, isn’t some random left-wing extremist. He actually works for the local (Soros-backed) prosecutor’s office.
Shocking new evidence shows just how deep and dark the MN church Ambush goes… – Revolver News
The insurrection, the color revolution is upon us
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Filed under 2026 Current Events, Culture, Immigration, Insurrection, media, Political Commentary, Politics, Progressivism Tagged with character, culture, democrats, deportations, Globalism, ICE, Immigration, Jacob Frey, Keith Ellison, minneapolis, news, politics, progressivism, The Left, Tim Waltz, Trump