From A Source Of Good To A Source Of Evil

Wednesday, May 13, 2026

On Monday, The Free Press published a piece by Kat Rosenfield on “suicidal empathy.”  She describes the term as “politically loaded,” but it is also useful to understand a lot of why denominationalism is dead in America.

Here is how Rosenfield defines the term:

“Suicidal empathy” is a politically loaded term to describe a decidedly human phenomenon: a romantic belief in the power of compassion to heal all wounds. The suicidally empathetic person believes that trauma is the root of all evil, that those who hurt us can be loved into submission, that the goal of justice is to humanize rather than punish—no matter how ghastly the offense.

I think there is a theological parallel – the term “cheap grace.”  Most people are familiar with the theological term “cheap grace” through the work of Dietrich Bonhoeffer who was martyred for his faith by the Nazis.  Bonhoeffer used the term to describe faith that does not produce good works.  For example, believers in Nazi Germany that did not stand against the Reich.  I first read Bonhoeffer’s seminal work, in which he coined the term – “The Cost of Discipleship” – as a very young man (14).  I was, in fact, too young to really appreciate its power.  But the concept of cheap grace has stuck with me through the many decades that have followed and I think it is far more insightful than even Bonhoeffer believed it to be.

“Cheap grace” has come to mean to me the granting of grace without repentance on the part of the recipient.  That is, if you think about it, exactly what Rosenfield is calling suicidal empathy.  We forgive a person their crime when they do not even think their crime is criminal – or theologically, their sin is forgiven even when they do not see it as sin.

Rosenfield recounts the story of a woman, brutally attacked in New York who refuses to press charges because, “I don’t want to put another black man in jail.”  And thus the justice system cannot execute justice.  Her attacker later murdered an elderly gentleman, much to the regret of the woman that refused to press charges.  Similarly a church that dispenses grace to the unrepentant sacrifices its role as a societal agent for good and as such removes from the sinner any need to stop sinning.

Modern theologians will quickly argue with you about the foundational understanding that grace is unearned and unearnable.  Indeed – but repentance is not about earning grace – it is about receiving it – grace granted to the unrepentant is grace unreceived and thus grace wasted.  Modern denominational Protestantism, particularly in recent years with its open acceptance of practices considered deeply sinful throughout church history, has cheapened grace entirely.  And thus it is spent as a force for good in this nation.  The nation is far worse for it.

And from the church this mode of thought has spread to secular understandings like suicidal empathy.  Thus the church is no longer merely ineffective, but contributory to the so much of what we suffer from these days.

And thus repentance is once again necessary.