I started following Jack Jenkins, a prolific reporter/writer for Religion News, some time in the past year or so on BlueSKy.
For an atheist, that may seem a bit of a weird thing, but he keeps me on top of things like this: An ‘empathy gap' divides Americans ahead of the midterms, says PRRI report.
He posted this summary:
A survey released Tuesday (Oct. 20) found that Republicans and evangelicals increasingly see empathy as a danger that can lead society away from God.
The survey of 5,200 American adults was done by the Public Religion Research Institute.
(Click to enlarge for better readability.)
Combining the stronglies and not stronglies at either end of the graph's spectrum, 83% of religiously unaffiliated people and 80% of people from non-Christian religions think empathy is at least somewhat foundational, while 54% of evangelicals think it can literally become dangerous to God's truth.
Conversely, only 42% of evangelicals think empathy is foundational, the lowest by far of any of the sub-groups identified. The New Testament, I think it is clear, is in agreement that empathy is foundational.
A few comments on the survey's results:
What we’re seeing here is fascism: the religious devotion of the lynch mob, the “old time religion” of enslavers, and the white piety of the Jim Crow state. It won’t go away on its own, but at minimum we can stop subsidizing this extremist ideology and begin to build bonds of genuine community.
Dr. William Horne @wihorne.bsky.social
the idea that empathy is dangerous has been permeating right-wing spaces for a while, but it's not an actual element of their ideology as much as it's a defense mechanism against confronting the reality of their cruelty. the right doesn't reject empathy entirely, they selectively deploy it. when a white person is murdered by an immigrant, for example, they will call upon your empathy. but empathy directed at their enemies is cast aside as toxic.
Peter @notalawyer.bsky.social
I tell my kids that empathy is bad, then wonder why they don’t call anymore.
Norm Charlatan
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