Finding Bright Lines, Embracing Empathy, and Taking Sides

Plus, reflections on Lent and perseverance from The Convocation Unscripted crew

Mar 14, 2025

In this week’s episode of The Convocation Unscripted….

Amid the continued trampling of our constitutional rights by the Trump administration, Robby, Kristin, and Diana discuss the importance of focusing on “bright lines” that are being crossed (Jemar was on the road this week). We celebrate the institutions that continue to hold courageous conversations in these challenging days, such as First Baptist Church of Richmond and St. Mary’s College in Indiana, which are hosting Robby and Kristin for public conversations. We discuss the likely illegal detaining of Mahmoud Khalil—a Palestinian recent graduate of Columbia University, U.S. green card holder, and husband of an American citizen—for speech the Trump administration did not like. We also talk about the dangers of Trump’s usurpation of power by declaring a national emergency. This emergency declaration, made with no legitimate grounds, gives Trump the power to unilaterally impose the tariffs that are tanking U.S. financial markets. It also is the prerequisite for invoking the Alien Enemies Act, as Trump is likely to do in the near future to expand his program of mass deportations.

Finally, we talk about an old heresy, now recirculating in Christian circles, that empathy is a antithetical to the gospel. We point out that previous purges of empathy as a Christian virtue among white Christians in America prepared the ground for disastrous actions, such as the genocide of Indigenous people and the enslavement of people of African descent. We know where that road leads. We also discussed the need for universities and churches to avoid the trap of neutrality, since, as our colleague Jemar always reminds us, justice takes sides.

Mark your calendars!

As a reminder, we’ll be conducting our Convocation Unscripted podcast conversations weekly for the first 100 days of Trump’s administration. Here’s the rhythm: We’ll hold The Convocation Unscripted+LIVE on the first Thursdays of each month at 5:00 p.m. ET; on the other weeks, the Convocation team will record the show on Thursdays.

And each week, we’ll post the show Friday afternoon here via this newsletter, on our YouTube channel, and on our audio podcast. (NOTE: You can click on those links to receive the show directly via YouTube or Apple podcasts.)

Here’s the schedule for the upcoming TCU+LIVE shows—we hope you’ll join us:
April 3, 5:00 p.m. ET
May 1, 5:00 p.m. ET