“The Moral Crisis at the Heart of the Nation”

If there is one significant and deeply practical virtue this country is lacking, it is empathy. Closely behind it are compassion, hospitality, and kindness. The soul of this nation is wounded, hardened by fear, division, and indifference to suffering. As a people, we cannot continue living as though cruelty and xenophobia are strengths or silence is neutrality. A society that loses its capacity to feel the pain of others ultimately loses its humanity, and no nation on earth can survive that loss unscathed. We are not the exception!

As a nation, we cannot continue living as if policies can replace conscience or power can substitute for human care and dignity. Without a renewed ethical commitment to one another and to the stranger and the most vulnerable in our midst, democracy itself becomes hollow and human virtues become a thing of the past. Healing will require us to slow down, listen deeply, and recover the courage to care again.

Finally, we must remember that what is declared legal by human courts is not always just in the sight of God. Law may permit what conscience forbids, and judicial decisions may comply with statutes while violating the deeper demands of love, mercy, and empathy. True justice is measured not only by legality, but by how well it honors the sacred dignity of every man and woman, every boy and girl, of every race and nation, and by how faithfully it protects the vulnerable among us and to act with compassion.