The Wisdom of the Womb in the Work of Peace Building

So why do we see such a dearth of such behavior in our society these days?

Elon Musk thinks this kind of caring is actually an existential danger. “The fundamental weakness of Western civilization,” he says, “is empathy.”[3] He warns of what he calls “suicidal empathy.” The entrepreneur seems more concerned with economic and technological progress than the human misery it too often wreaks in its wake. 

Some faith voices raise the same alarm. Christian writer Allie Beth Stuckey, in her book Toxic Empathy: How Progressives Exploit Christian Compassion, warns that while compassion is good, empathy is dangerous because when we begin to feel too much for another person, we are liable to accept what God condemns (same-sex relations and transgender identity, for instance). [4] Pete Hegseth, who prefers to call himself Secretary of War rather than Secretary of Defense, is trying to eliminate empathy from military culture. His spiritual leader is Doug Wilson, a self-professed Christian nationalist theocrat, who believes empathy undermines Christianity’s rightful patriarchalism by feminizing it. 

Empathy, compassion and mercy are distinguishable, but what they share is a personal investment in the wellbeing of another. Empathy is womb-like compassion. It moves us from feeling concern for someone to feeling what they are feeling. We allow the suffering of someone else to penetrate our own experience. By sharing in another’s pain we move toward them in solidarity and open up the possibility of mutual transformation.

Week by week, we at Faith Commons see friends and colleagues showing up at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Field Office to stand with, for and beside migrants who are being targeted for deportation. The resulting family separation and the prospect of returning to violent countries where they fear for their lives leaves these neighbors scared to death. Some volunteers who serve these undocumented community members subject themselves to being re-traumatized by these encounters, owing to their own brutal histories. But they feel compelled to help because they feel the fear and foreboding of these outsiders inside themselves. This womb-like compassion is a human expression of God-like behavior.

Maoz Inon and Aziz Abu Sarah were in Dallas last weekend at the invitation of Faith Commons. They have written a book titled The Future Is Peace. [5] Aziz lost his brother as a result of being tortured in an Israeli prison. Maoz lost his parents in the horrendous October 7 Hamas attack three years ago. In the wake of the murderous rampage, Aziz reached out to Maoz to express his sympathies and to offer comfort. He knew what it felt like to suffer such loss, and rather than delight in the suffering of someone considered an enemy, he saw him as a fellow sufferer deserving of compassion. The friendship that resulted has become more like brotherhood. And the pattern of this solidarity forms the foundation of a more expansive future peace.

According to historian Katharine Antolini in her work Memorializing Motherhood, the earliest traditions of Mother’s Day were devoid of the sugary sentimentality we often see today. Instead, they were birthed from a deep-seated conviction that mothers bear a sacred civic responsibility to safeguard human life and foster global harmony. The abolitionist and poet, Julia Ward Howe, presaged Mother’s Day by advocating after the Civil War for Mother’s Peace Day gatherings that would promote the quest for divine peace on earth. [6]

Healing creation and promoting peace is not just women’s work. It’s all of our work – human and divine. And it stretches from the womb to the tomb.

~ George A. Mason