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History and Religion
On Empathy

On Empathy

Last updated on: October 29, 2026 at 6:52 pm by Dan Peterson

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On Empathy 2026-10-29T18:52:46-06:00 Dan Peterson

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The holidays are almost upon us. (Wikimedia Commons public domain image)

Happy holidays!

From the Babylon Bee, “Fake News You Can Trust”: “IT’S GO TIME: Mormons Prepare For One Evening Of Year When Everyone Will Answer Their Door”

Jesus as the Good Shepherd, from the third century AD crypt of Lucina, in the Roman catacomb of Domatilla (Wikimedia Commons public domain image)

I find the results of this survey puzzling and potentially disturbing: “America’s deep religious divide over empathy.” Why would Latter-day Saints score so low? Why did they respond the way they did?

After all, according to Latter-day Saint understanding Jesus was the ultimate empath. Indeed, his empathy is fundamental to his atonement:

He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. (Isaiah 53:3-5)

For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. (Hebrews 4:15)

After a recitation of the trials and sorrows that Joseph Smith had suffered — indeed, while Joseph was languishing in the miserable jail at Carthage, Missouri — the Lord concluded by telling him that “The Son of Man hath descended below them all. Art thou greater than he?” (Doctrine and Covenants 122:8). And here is the teaching of the Book of Mormon prophet Alma the Younger:

And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people.

And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities. (Alma 7:11-12)

Another mid-third-century painting of Jesus as the “good shepherd” from one of the Roman catacombs (Wikimedia Commons public domain image)

We believe Jesus to be compassionate beyond our comprehension. “God is love,” say both 1 John 4:8 and 1 John 4:16.

And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.

But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion [ἐσπλαγχνίσθη] on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd. Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest. (Matthew 9:35-38)

Incidentally, the Koine Greek verb ἐσπλαγχνίσθη means “to be moved with deep compassion” or “to feel pity in one’s inward parts.” It’s derived from σπλάγχνα (splanchna), which refers to the inner organs, bowels, or entrails (heart, lungs, liver). In ancient Greek thought, the bowels were considered the physical seat of deep, visceral [!] emotions like love, grief, and mercy — reminiscent of modern English expressions like “gut-wrenching” and “feeling it in your gut.” (See also 3 Nephi 17:6.)

Etymologically, empathy and compassion are very similar, though not identical. In English usage, they’re somewhat distinct but closely related. Empathy might be described as the ability to sense, share, and understand another person’s emotions or experiences from that person’s perspective — essentially “feeling with” someone. Compassion, by contrast, is an emotional response that goes a step further than empathy alone, by combining empathetic understanding with an active, genuine desire or effort to relieve the other person’s suffering. Empathy is a feeling that is a necessary foundation for compassionate action. You might see it as the “driver.”

The English word empathy was evidently coined in 1908 by a psychologist named Edward B. Titchener as an English translation of the German aesthetic term Einfühlung (meaning “in-feeling”). But it’s modeled on the ancient Greek word ἐμπάθεια (empatheia), which is in turn derived from the preposition ἐν (en), meaning “in” or “at,” and the root πάθος (pathos), meaning “passion,” “suffering,” or “feeling.”

The English word compassion literally means “to suffer with.” It’s made up of the Latin prefix com-, meaning “with” or “together,” and the Latin verb pati/patior, which means “to suffer” or “to bear” — and which is pretty clearly cognate with the already-mentioned Greek root πάθος (pathos). The combined Latin deponent verb compati means “to feel pity” or “to suffer together with.” It seems to be an ecclesiastical loan-translation of the Greek word sympatheia, but it’s obviously closely aligned with empatheia, as well.

“Alma Baptizes in the Waters of Mormon” by Minerva Teichert (1888-1976)
Wikimedia Commons public domain image

So Jesus is described, scripturally, as empathetic and compassionate. And, as his professed disciples, we’re trying to be Christlike:

Therefore, what manner of men ought ye to be? Verily I say unto you, even as I am. (3 Nephi 27:27)

Consider, for example, these words from Alma the Elder, as reported in the Book of Mormon:

And it came to pass that he said unto them: Behold, here are the waters of Mormon (for thus were they called) and now, as ye are desirous to come into the fold of God, and to be called his people, and are willing to bear one another’s burdens, that they may be light; Yea, and are willing to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in, even until death, that ye may be redeemed of God, and be numbered with those of the first resurrection, that ye may have eternal life — Now I say unto you, if this be the desire of your hearts, what have you against being baptized in the name of the Lord, as a witness before him that ye have entered into a covenant with him, that ye will serve him and keep his commandments, that he may pour out his Spirit more abundantly upon you?

And now when the people had heard these words, they clapped their hands for joy, and exclaimed: This is the desire of our hearts. (Mosiah 18:8-11)

The so-called “Eros” statue at Piccadilly Circus is not really of “Eros” at all. It was intended to represent “Christian charity.” (Wikimedia Commons public domain image)

I’m hoping that the Latter-day Saints who responded to this survey don’t really believe empathy to be a bad thing. In fact, if they’re active, communicant, believing members of the Church, I can hardly conceive of their believing empathy to be a negative trait.

So why would they answer the way they did? I’ll offer a hypothesis. Perhaps others can provide better suggestions.

Empathy can, I think, lead to errors of judgment. We’re sometimes moved by pity or compassion to relax standards, even when such relaxation actually harms the person that we want to help. It’s not really helpful, even to protect her self-confidence or self-image or to avoid causing hurt, to tell a young pupil that she got the sum right when, in fact, she got it wrong. Giving money to an alcoholic on the street may be rather like giving drugs to an addict who is crying out miserably for a fix. In this way, empathy can harm.

Is that a possible explanation for the low ranking of both Latter-day Saints and Evangelical Protestants in this survey? Better ideas would be welcomed.

Posted from Park City, Utah

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