According to Axios, a new theological turf war is raging within American Christianity, and the battleground isn’t over music styles, dress codes, or whether the pastor should say “y’all” during sermons. No, the hot new culture war is empathy. Yes—basic human compassion is now the thing conservative pastors, influencers, and Elon Musk (because of course) claim is “dangerous,” “toxic,” or directly aligned with “hell.”
Several conservative Christian voices, apparently exhausted by the burden of caring about other humans, have started publishing books with titles that sound like parody—The Sin of Empathy, Toxic Empathy, and presumably an upcoming sequel, Empathy: Satan’s Footstool. Meanwhile, Elon Musk popped onto Joe Rogan’s podcast to warn that empathy is being “weaponized,” which is rich coming from a guy who fires staff via tweet.
On the other side, actual clergy who have read the Gospels—shockingly—argue that empathy is kind of the whole point of Christianity. You know, “Love your neighbor,” “Care for the least of these,” the entire narrative arc of Jesus’ life, death, and ministry. Organizations like Homeboy Industries and Repairers of the Breach are out here using empathy to lift people out of poverty and violence… which apparently now puts them at odds with the “no feelings allowed” wing of the church.
Meanwhile, state lawmakers tried to ban social-emotional learning in schools because it teaches cooperation and kindness—two things that evidently must be stopped before they turn your child into a raging socialist. Fortunately, all 25 efforts fizzled because even moderate Christians were like, “Hey… maybe teaching kids not to be jerks is okay?”
At the end of the day, scholars admit the Bible is contradictory—some passages preach compassion for everyone, others… not so much. Still, it’s wild that American Christianity has reached a point where people are earnestly debating whether empathy—the thing most of us rely on to function in a society—should be treated like gluten in a fad diet.
If empathy is now “dangerous,” does that mean Lubbock’s city council has secretly been ahead of the curve this whole time?
https://www.axios.com/2025/11/30/christians-empathy-jesus-immigration-politics
