MAGA Christians increasingly say that a normal, important human trait is sinful

It might sound wild, but empathy, that seemingly normal human trait we all rely on, is increasingly being labeled as sinful within certain MAGA-aligned Christian circles. We’re seeing this idea pop up in books like Allie Beth Stuckey’s 2024 release, “Toxic Empathy,” and Joe Rigney’s “The Sin of Empathy,” which came out the following year. Even Elon Musk declared, on Joe Rogan’s podcast, that empathy is “the fundamental weakness of Western civilization.”

Empathy lets you understand and share other people’s feelings and perspectives, which has been a key part of the bible. However, those pushing the “toxic empathy” critique argue that it undermines moral judgment or promotes policies they believe go against biblical principles. This view within “MAGA Christianity” is a real concern for many religious scholars and advocates.

HuffPost reports that Malynda Hale, the executive director of The New Evangelicals, mentioned that she has “watched empathy get rebranded as weakness” in MAGA-aligned Christian spaces. She explained that if you choose to care about the experiences of others, whether they are immigrants or Black communities, you are often framed as being “too emotional,” “unbiblical,” or even “compromising your faith.” 

Villifying empathy is all about power

Bible scholar Mattie Mae Motl added that this vilification exists because empathy fosters a kind of compassion that profit-driven economic systems can’t really control or commodify. Author April Ajoy believes it’s really just a new version of the old “love the sinner, hate the sin” phrase, which is also weaponized to stop Christians from being too loving, even if Jesus commanded us to “love our neighbor as ourselves.”

Ajoy finds it “alarming to see so many MAGA Christians demonizing empathy today,” explaining that empathy is often shown as a moral weakness that could threaten political loyalty. She suggests that if followers believe it’s “toxic” to care about immigrant families being separated, it’s easier to keep supporting the administration they claim came from God. 

Hale echoed this, saying that empathy “forces you to acknowledge others have been hurt, reconsider your beliefs and sometimes confront the fact that your community has been on the wrong side of a lot of things.” If they felt compassion, they might vote differently or advocate for the weak, disrupting the movement’s rigid narrative.

Leaders in extreme religions need strict rules to maintain power, so they warn against the “danger” of compassion and flexibility. Framing empathy as a sin introduces shame and fear, two powerful motivators and manipulations in high-control religion. This branding of empathy as toxic serves to protect existing power structures, especially for pastors and influencers whose livelihoods depend on their support for President Trump.

Ajoy warned that “discouraging empathy leads to apathy, which leads to the approval of inhumane horrors,” and thus, the “unwavering loyalty MAGA Christians have extended to Trump, whose policies frequently stand in direct contradiction to the teachings of Jesus.” Hale summarized it best: “empathy is not optional in a faith that claims to be centered on love.”