The importance of empaty alongside ideology

 I was discussing the topic of abortion with a friend. He's a nurse and he's not in favor of abortion.

I felt the need to ask him, what would he do if he had the power to make abortion ilegal. He responded that he wouldn't make it so. His response let me a bit confused. How could he be a religious person that, morally and strongly opposes an ideia and yet, he would not prohibit it?

He told me the reason he would not act upon his beliefs was empaty, and just that. He puts himself in the shoes of the other person and empatizes with her. That doens't mean he has to change his mind and agree with that person's decision.

This is nothing special, but for me, it really opened my eyes to the importance of empaty alongside ideology, the importance of disagreement and the importance of acceptance. And for me this makes the line between extremist thinking and moderate thinking very clear.

If you made it this far thank you for putting up with this post, written by a complete morron. What's your opinion?