Holy Heretics: Losing Religion and Finding Jesus · The Sophia Society

MAGA Christians and The Sin of Empathy w/Gary Alan Taylor

·52 min·3 clips

Taylor says the perpetrators’ common trait was 'a complete and almost universal lack of empathy.'

1. Holy Heretics: Losing Religion and Finding Jesus centers this episode on the 'sin of empathy' and its political use in evangelical Christianity. 2. Gary Alan Taylor is the host and co-creator of Holy Heretics, and he says he is speaking solo after a recent episode with Dr. Rupert Sheldrake. 3. Taylor frames the episode as a response to his Substack article and asks why the 'sin of empathy' has become dangerous in the current political climate. 4. He ties the topic to his master's degree in Holocaust studies and his research under German historian Dr. Steven Fritz. 5. Taylor says Nazi Germany created 'a nation and people filled with apathy toward their fellow man' and uses that history to interpret MAGA Christianity. 6. He cites Daniel Goldhagen and says the Nazi party gained power through electoral means while destroying democracy and embodying anti-Semitism. 7. Taylor defines cult behavior through the Latin 'cultus' and says cults rely on unquestioning loyalty to an authoritarian leader. 8. He says cults dictate what members wear, who they oppose, and what they will do to stay 'pure' from outside influence. 9. Taylor compares the MAGA movement and evangelical white MAGA Christianity to Russian dolls, calling it a 'cult within a cult within a cult within a cult.' 10. He argues that Nazi propaganda glorified Hitler through films, books, newspapers, and quasi-religious public rituals like the Nazi salute and 'Heil Hitler.' 11. Taylor says Trump mirrors that pattern through grandiosity, entitlement, constant praise-seeking, blame-shifting, and a rigid us-versus-them ideology. 12. He quotes Philip Chard calling Trump 'the charismatic leader of a personality cult' and says many MAGA supporters only know that Trump hates the same people they hate. 13. Taylor names people of color, LGBTQ people, 'wokeness,' and DEI as scapegoats and says Trump’s rhetoric often hides racial slurs behind coded language. 14. He describes Holocaust research as disturbing and says Christopher Browning showed that ordinary people, not monsters, committed extraordinary crimes. 15. Taylor says the Holocaust depended on rail workers, administrators, police, businessmen, architects, and other 'desk murderers' who enabled deportation and death. 16. He cites J.M. Gilbert at the Nuremberg Trials, who said evil is 'a lack of empathy' and a 'genuine incapacity to feel with fellow men.' 17. Taylor names Sean Fauci, Mark Driscoll, the Gospel Coalition, John Piper, Allie Beth Stuckey, James Dobson, Del Tackett, and Doug Wilson as figures popularizing the 'sin of empathy.' 18. He contrasts that theology with Jesus, saying compassion is active love, that 'empathy, not holiness' is central to God, and that compassion is political for Marcus Borg. 19. The episode sounds like a solo moral argument: Taylor uses rapid-fire historical references, quotation, and direct address to build a severe case against cruelty. 20. Listeners who want Christian ethics, Holocaust history, and political critique will likely stay engaged; listeners who want a light or nonpartisan faith chat may skip it.

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