I don’t mean for this to come across as a sermon, as it probably does. But we need to talk about a dangerous and deeply unchristian idea that is making its way through certain evangelical circles. Several prominent figures within conservative evangelical circles are telling their followers that empathy is a sin. They claim that feeling another person’s pain too deeply can lead us away from biblical truth, that it clouds moral clarity, and that it makes it easier to justify sin.
This strange view is a complete perversion of what Jesus taught us. It reads more like a justification of Trumpism than serious theological reflection. It seems to have come into the mainstream through numerous books like Joe Rigney’s “The Sin of Empathy.” In the book Rigney argues that empathy can lead to moral compromise by immersing oneself too deeply into another's emotions, potentially clouding objective moral judgment.
This movement isn’t coming out of nowhere. It’s rooted in the broader culture war happening within American evangelicalism. As more and more Christians, especially younger generations, embrace social justice, racial equality, LGBTQ+ rights, and economic fairness, the old guard is panicking. They see these changes as a threat to their power and their rigid, black-and-white worldview. So what is their response? They redefine terms, twisting fundamental Christian virtues into something sinister. And now, empathy, one of the most basic and beautiful expressions of Christ-like love is being recast as a weakness, a tool of manipulation, or even a gateway to moral relativism.
They justify this nonsense by drawing a distinction between compassion and empathy. They argue that compassion is biblical because it allows us to recognize suffering and take appropriate action while keeping our moral clarity intact. But empathy? That, they claim, is an emotional entanglement that clouds judgment. They warn that if Christians empathize too much with someone, especially someone they deem a sinner, they might become complicit in that sin. It’s the same old legalistic fearmongering dressed up in new clothes.
This is not just bad theology. It’s an outright rejection of one of the most fundamental aspects of human connection. If we strip empathy out of Christianity, we strip out its moral force. We reduce it to a set of cold rules, a lifeless checklist of dos and don’ts. Worse, it gives people an excuse to be indifferent to suffering. Instead of being moved to help those in pain, believers who buy into this ideology are encouraged to keep their distance, remaining emotionally detached risking being "corrupted" by too much understanding.
This is the exact opposite of what Jesus taught. The Gospels are filled with stories of Jesus demonstrating deep, heartfelt empathy. When Mary and Martha grieved over their brother Lazarus, Jesus didn’t just lecture them about resurrection. He wept with them. When he healed the sick, he didn’t do it out of a detached sense of duty. Over and over the Gospels tell us he was “moved with compassion.” He didn’t just acknowledge suffering from a distance; he entered into it. He felt it. And if Jesus, the very embodiment of divine truth, wasn’t afraid of embracing the emotions of others, then why should we be?
There is also the Parable of the Good Samaritan. A man is left beaten and dying on the side of the road. Two religious figures, a priest and a Levite, see him, but they choose to walk away. Why? Probably because they were more concerned with keeping themselves ritually pure than with helping someone in need. But then along comes the Samaritan, someone who in that time was considered an outsider, even an enemy. And what does he do? He doesn’t just acknowledge that the man needs help. He is moved by compassion. He feels the man’s suffering. And because of that, he takes action.
This is what Jesus calls us to do. Not to be cold arbiters of truth, not to be self-righteous judges who stand apart from the pain of the world, but to enter into it. To feel it. To love deeply, in a way that costs us something.
Those who push this anti-empathy nonsense argue that it leads to moral relativism. They claim that if we feel too much sympathy for people who live in sin, we’ll start excusing sinful behavior. But Jesus never made truth and love into opposites. He showed us that they are inseparable. When he met people who were struggling, who were lost, who were caught up in sin, he didn’t greet them with cold detachment. He met them where they were, with understanding and care. Think about the woman caught in adultery. Jesus didn’t condemn her. He showed her grace. He acknowledged her dignity. And then he called her to something better. That is empathy in action.
Rejecting empathy doesn’t just contradict the life and teachings of Jesus. It fosters a form of Christianity that is more concerned with ideological purity than with human connection. And that is deadly. A faith that suppresses the impulse to share in the suffering of others becomes little more than a rigid, heartless set of rules, disconnected from the very people those rules are meant to serve.
Even more disturbing this anti-empathy movement provides an easy justification for cruelty. If we are taught that feeling the pain of others is dangerous, then it becomes much easier to ignore injustice, to excuse oppression, to turn a blind eye to the struggles of marginalized groups. This is exactly what is happening in the current political climate, where empathy is dismissed as weakness and where many conservative Christians align themselves with policies that actively harm vulnerable communities. If empathy is cast as sinful, then so is the impulse to stand up for the oppressed, to advocate for the downtrodden, to seek justice for those who suffer.
Not to bury the point in words, this is a heresy. It replaces the heart of Christianity with a cold, authoritarian faith that cares more about maintaining power than about loving people. It is a distortion of Jesus’ message and a betrayal of the gospel itself. If you hear anyone trying to tell you that empathy is a sin, reject it. Not just because it’s bad theology, but because it is fundamentally opposed to the character of Christ.
Jesus didn’t call us to be detached, emotionless truth-warriors. He called us to love radically, to love unconditionally, to love in a way that requires us to feel deeply. Any theology that discourages that kind of love is not from Christ. It is from those who seek to use religion as a tool for control rather than as a path to righteousness.
It's a clear choice. We can follow the cold, rigid faith of those who fear empathy, or we can follow the compassionate, loving example of Jesus. We cannot do both. And their is enough cruelty in the world.
