When Christianity Declares Empathy 'Toxic': America's Moral Crisis

When federal agents shot Alex Pretti, an ICU nurse at Minneapolis VA hospital, as he tried to help a woman they had pepper-sprayed and thrown to the ground, it wasn't just another casualty of Trump's immigration crackdown. It was a symbol of something far more disturbing: the systematic rejection of empathy itself by America's Christian right.

The day after taking office, Trump attended a prayer service at the National Cathedral where Episcopal Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde made a simple plea: "In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now." She spoke of immigrant children fearing their parents would be taken away, refugees fleeing persecution, and LGBTQ youth afraid for their lives.

The Backlash Against Christian Compassion

Bishop Budde was immediately vilified. One Republican congressman said she "should be added to the deportation list." Pastor and influencer Ben Garrett warned his followers: "This snake is God's enemy and yours too." Right-wing Christian podcaster Allie Beth Stuckey called the sermon "*toxic empathy* that is in complete opposition to God's Word."

Toxic empathy. The phrase itself is a moral oxymoron that reveals something deeply disturbing about the direction of American Christianity under Trump's influence.

This isn't an isolated incident. A recent survey found that 25% of Republicans and nearly 40% of Christian nationalists now agree that "empathy is a dangerous emotion that undermines our ability to set up a society that is guided by God's truth." The MAGA movement has explicitly rejected Jesus's teachings to "love thy neighbor" and care for "the last, the least, and the lost."

The Rise of Christian Nationalism

Christian nationalism—the belief that certain Christians should exercise dominion over every aspect of American life with no separation between church and state—is ascendant in Trump's Washington. House Speaker Mike Johnson displays a historic flag outside his Capitol Hill office that has been embraced by Christian nationalists and was carried by insurrectionists on January 6.

The National Council of Churches, representing America's largest mainline denominations, has warned about these dangers. "In this quest for political power, Christian humility is lost, as is the message of God's love for all humanity," they stated in 2021.

The War on Empathy Goes Digital

This rejection of compassion isn't limited to immigration policy. Christian influencer Allie Beth Stuckey, with over 1 million social media followers, has written a book called "Toxic Empathy." She warns women not to listen to their "soft hearts" and targets fellow evangelicals whose empathy might lead them to question total abortion bans or mass deportations.

The war on empathy has powerful allies in Silicon Valley, where techno-authoritarians argue that empathy is "suicidal" for civilization because it interferes with ruthless efficiency. These are the same billionaires building AI systems they admit might destroy humanity while dismissing critics as "NPCs"—non-player characters, a video game term for non-humans.

Social Media's Role in Moral Decay

The toxic dynamics of social media have accelerated these trends. Platforms like TikTok and Elon Musk's X reward extremism and marginalize moderation. They promote negativity and smother positivity. Empathy doesn't drive engagement, so algorithms suppress it.

Cultural critics warn we're becoming a "post-literate" society as reading and math scores decline across the Western world since smartphones were introduced. There's good reason to believe a post-literate society will also be a post-moral society.

The Stakes for Democracy

What we're witnessing isn't just a theological dispute—it's a fundamental challenge to democratic civilization. When a major political movement suggests that empathy and compassion themselves are suspect, we've crossed a dangerous threshold.

The decline of mainstream Christian voices has left a vacuum that extreme ideologues have filled. The Catholic Church and mainline Protestant denominations have been weakened by scandals and declining attendance. With Christianity at record lows in America, the National Council of Churches expects 100,000 churches to close in coming years, mostly mainstream Methodist, Presbyterian, and Lutheran congregations.

The question isn't whether America can survive Trump's presidency, but whether it can survive the moral transformation his movement represents—one where helping your neighbor becomes a sin and loving your enemy becomes weakness.