On the 7th January 2015 the world awoke to the harrowing news of an extremist attack on the Charlie Hebdo headquarters in Paris. News outlets across the globe covered this sad incident in intricate detail. Shortly after, political figures of all stripes and sizes marched the streets of Paris, showing solidarity with the people of France and the right to freedom of speech.
empathy
“Uncommon Decency” in the context of Pluralism
Christian hearts must be open to other people. God wants that of us. That is what I have just been arguing. But just how open are we supposed to be? We live today in the midst of many lifestyles, many systems of thought–don’t we run the risk of having our hearts pulled in so many different […]
Cultivating empathic sensitivies vital to “Uncommon Decency”
Civility requires that we reduce the psychological distance between ourselves and others. We need to develop a sense of commonality with people who initially strike us as very different from ourselves. One important means of doing this is by cultivating empathy. “Empathy” literally means “in-feeling” — it is to project myself into another person’s feelings […]