Ep 87: MAGA Christians and the Sin of Empathy w/Gary Alan Taylor

Episode Summary:

I wrote an article almost two weeks ago titled, Trump’s Willing Executioners. Drawing on my graduate work in Holocaust Studies, I compared and contrasted the MAGA movement and Nazi Germany, and in particular, the glaring lack of empathy championed by both cults. The article went viral, encouraging me to consider a more robust analysis of how cruelty, the lack of empathy, and propaganda drives ordinary men and women to commit extraordinary crimes against humanity. We saw it in Nazi Germany in the 1930s and we are witnessing it in real time in the United States.

When comparing political movements like MAGA America and Nazi Germany, it's important to approach the discussion with sensitivity and academic rigor. The comparison between the two must be grounded in the analysis of both movements' ideologies, symbols, rhetoric, and policies. Without overstating things, both movements utilized nationalism to rally support, often with a focus on restoring a golden age of past glory. Both cults also exploited social unrest, attacked the intelligentsia, created an “us vs them” mentality, and enlisted the church to absolve their crimes. More sinister, both groups embraced xenophobic rhetoric and abject racism, identifying certain groups as threats to the nation’s purity and survival. While both groups rose to power legally, the Nazi Party and the MAGA cult quickly eroded the principles of democracy in route to a fascist regime.

There’s a lot of talk these days comparing Donald Trump to Adolf Hitler. I understand the analogy, but what I find even more significant is the correlation between Nazi Christians and MAGA Christians. As I said in the article, “The same cast of characters and religious propaganda that created the Holocaust are alive and well in the United States.” MAGA Christians are cruel because the MAGA cult is cruel; and MAGA Christians are cruel because cruel people tend to become MAGA members. For Trump evangelicals, empathy is a sin because cruelty is the point.

In todays podcast episode, I discuss:

The intersectionality between fascism and the lack of empathy.

How does the MAGA cult benefit from the idea that empathy and compassion are sinful?

Why do ordinary men and women often commit the most heinous offenses when they believe other people aren’t actual people?

Why are prominent evangelical Christians promoting cruelty and indifference?

Why are white, conservative Christians almost always on the wrong side of history and morality?

How did the historical Jesus center compassion as the foundational ethic of his life and ministry?

Why is compassion, and not holiness, the core attribute of God?

When cult behavior, hatred of the other, and a lack of empathy come together, you create a culture of death. And it’s happening in real time here in the United States. As Pastor Robin Meyers recently warned:

“America is going fascist, and it's doing so with the help of religious zealots whose real passion is for the politics of privilege, not the radically disturbing presence of Jesus. This will sound alarmist to some, but the truth is that no country ever thinks it is going fascist until it wakes up one day to that indisputable reality. Then the people will say, ‘How did this happen?’ And the answer is ‘one day at a time, and with the blessing of the church.’”

This is one of the top three most important episodes we’ve ever released. I hope you will take some time today to listen, and share it with a friend.

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Show notes:

http://www.sophiasociety.org/podcast/the-sin-of-empathy

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This episode was produced by The Sophia Society and written by Gary Alan Taylor.  Music is by Faith in Foxholes.