The Rise of 'Toxic Empathy' in Modern Christian Discourse
If asked to list examples of sins, few people would include "empathy" among their responses. Yet in recent years, attacks on empathy have evolved from fringe talking points into mainstream right-wing Christian discourse. This ideological shift represents a significant departure from traditional Christian teachings about compassion and neighborly love.
From Virtue to Vice: The Rebranding of Empathy
Conservative commentator Allie Beth Stuckey released a book in 2024 titled "Toxic Empathy," followed shortly by right-wing theologian Joe Rigney's 2025 publication "The Sin of Empathy." These works gained further traction when billionaire Elon Musk declared on Joe Rogan's podcast that "the fundamental weakness of Western civilization is empathy."
Empathy, traditionally defined as the ability to understand and share the feelings and perspectives of others, has long been viewed by Christians as aligning with the teachings and example of Jesus Christ. However, proponents of the "toxic empathy" critique now argue that empathy can cloud moral judgment or be manipulated to advance policies they perceive as unbiblical.
"In the last several years, especially within MAGA-aligned Christian spaces, I've watched empathy get rebranded as weakness," said Malynda Hale, executive director of the Christian nonprofit The New Evangelicals. "In choosing to care about the lived experiences of others ― whether they are immigrants, LGBTQ people, Black communities, anyone outside the white evangelicals' space and ideological lane ― people are framed as being 'too emotional,' 'unbiblical,' or even 'compromising your faith.'"
The Theological Foundation of Christian Empathy
Critics argue that the anti-empathy rhetoric represents a sharp departure from Christianity's New Testament foundation. "Christianity is a faith built on compassion for the other," said Bible scholar Mattie Mae Motl. "It is the heart of Christ's message. The greatest commandment, according to Jesus, is that we 'love our neighbor as ourselves.' Without empathy, we are only able to love the neighbor who looks, thinks and believes like us."
Motl pointed to the parable of the Good Samaritan, in which Jesus demonstrates neighborly love using the example of a Samaritan ― a people group historically despised among Jewish communities. "The message is clear: you are to love and fight for your neighbor, even when they look, think or believe differently than you," she emphasized.
Scripture explicitly describes Jesus as empathetic. Motl quoted Hebrews 4:15: "For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses." She added, "The Bible shows us that Christ's work of salvation would be nothing without his divine and ultimate work of empathy. This empathy was not neutral or passive. Instead, Christ's empathy got him executed by the state."
Why Empathy Has Become a Target
April Ajoy, author of "Star-Spangled Jesus: Leaving Christian Nationalism and Finding A True Faith," believes the vilification of empathy serves multiple functions. "I first noticed empathy specifically demonized during the 2024 election, but it's just a repackaging of a phrase that was popular when I was a conservative Christian: 'love the sinner, hate the sin,'" Ajoy explained. "This phrase has also been weaponized to keep Christians from being too loving."
She recalled learning this framework with regard to the LGBTQ+ community. "It gives justification to Christian parents to abandon their queer kids without feeling guilty," Ajoy said. "It also gives other Christians permission to bully LGBTQ people and work to take their rights away in the name of 'tough love.' But hate wrapped in piety is still hate."
Tia Levings, a former Christian fundamentalist and author of "A Well-Trained Wife: My Escape from Christian Patriarchy," observed that empathy disrupts the MAGA movement's clean narrative of hierarchy, identity and certainty. "If a MAGA Christian witnesses something painful, like a child torn away from their parents, for example, or a woman bleeding out in a parking lot because of a change in abortive healthcare laws, they could be moved with compassion to soften their hard stance on 'the rules' according to the law," Levings explained.
"People in power in extreme religions need rigid rules and static positions to maintain power and order, so they warn against the 'danger' of compassion, flexibility and nuance," she added.
The Consequences of Demonizing Compassion
"Discouraging empathy leads to apathy, which leads to the approval of inhumane horrors," Ajoy warned. "Moral blindness is the direct result of discouraging empathy. We see this today in the unwavering loyalty MAGA Christians have extended to Trump, whose policies frequently stand in direct contradiction to the teachings of Jesus."
As empathy is suppressed, emotional callousness becomes reframed as moral strength, and bigotry gets reinterpreted as faithfulness. "Within Christian communities, condemning empathy distorts the character of God, severing divine justice from divine compassion," Ajoy noted. "It also undermines the command to love our neighbor, where people become issues to solve instead of humans to love."
Hale emphasized that empathy is not optional in a faith centered on love. "Love requires understanding and humility. Love requires stepping into someone else's perspective, even when it's uncomfortable," she said. "The more people choose to villainize empathy, the more risk losing the opportunity to live in a just compassionate world."
A Theological Shift Toward Rigidity
Levings identified a major theological shift in evangelical churches and seminaries from 2000 onward as contributing to empathy's demonization. "Scripturally, it's Jesus who fulfills compassion and empathy, moving the hard lines of Old Testament law to soften into the fruits of the spirit ― love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, gentleness, kindness, faithfulness and self-control," she explained. "But when churches and seminaries moved towards reformed theology and Calvinist doctrine, that came with a return to Old Testament law."
She pointed to fundamentalists like Doug Wilson and John MacArthur, who were influential in shaping congregations to view empathy as weakness. "Jesus is too liberal, too socialist, too forgiving," Levings said. "Most importantly, Jesus's compassion is at odds with the political power sought by the religious right. They prefer the ten commandments, harsh sentences, vanquishing so-called enemies and a militaristic stance in their culture war against science, progress and growth."
The Gender Dimension of Anti-Empathy Rhetoric
Levings observed that much anti-empathy rhetoric specifically aims to control women. "The Christian patriarchy views empathy and compassion as feminine weaknesses, and less masculine, making this part of the overall gender distinction they claim makes men and women different from one another," she explained.
"Women as a voting bloc also endanger the patriarchy's grip on political power. This press against empathy runs parallel to other attempts to marginalize women's power, such as repealing the 19th Amendment, removing women from professional roles and programs and changing divorce laws so that we can't leave marriages."
Faith Without Works: The Hypocrisy of Showy Christianity
Many theologians highlight the tenet that humans are made in God's image and Christians are called to imitate Christ, who treated the poor, marginalized and oppressed with dignity and worth. Ajoy pointed to worship services at the White House, Oval Office prayer sessions and loud declarations that religion and Christianity are "back" as "showy demonstrations of faith without caring for the poor, the widow, the orphan, the immigrant, the single parent, etc."
"These are an example of the religious hypocrites Jesus condemned in Matthew 15 ― 'These people honor me with their lips but their hearts are far from me,'" Ajoy said. "It appears to me that if MAGA Christians lived in Bible times, they would say Jesus had toxic empathy when he healed people without health care, when he fed people who didn't earn it or when he forgave and loved the adulterous woman instead of judging her. To have empathy is holy, not toxic."
The demonization of empathy within certain Christian circles represents not just a political shift but a theological one that redefines compassion as weakness and positions rigid ideology above the foundational Christian principle of loving one's neighbor.
