Empathy divides Americans by religion, with white evangelicals standing apart

Axios · 10/20/2026, 9:30:12 AM

Data: PRRI, 2026 American Values Survey ; Chart: Russell Contreras/Axios White evangelical Protestants are the only major religious group in which a majority says empathy can become dangerous when it leads people away from a society guided by God's truth, according to a new survey . Why it matters : The survey lands amid a quiet civil war within American Christianity over who deserves empathy. Conservatives ranging from evangelical pastors to Elon Musk have framed empathy as a vulnerability in debates over immigration , racial justice and LGBTQ+ rights . In a February 2025 interview with Joe Rogan, Musk called empathy "the fundamental weakness of Western civilization," while acknowledging its potential good and warning against its weaponization. By the numbers: The annual American Values Survey from the nonpartisan Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) released Tuesday found that 42% of white evangelical Protestants agreed that empathy is a foundational moral value that helps build a healthy society. Separately, 54% agreed that empathy can become dangerous when it leads people away from a society guided by God's truth. In every other religious group, PRRI found that at least 66% agreed with the foundational-value statement, including 73% of white mainline Protestants and Hispanic Catholics. Empathy's foundational value was endorsed by 83% of religiously unaffiliated Americans, 80% of respondents grouped under other non-Christian religions, 77% of Jewish Americans and 65% of Latter-day Saints. The intrigue: The survey found a 30-point partisan gap: 84% of Democrats agreed with the foundational-value statement, compared with 54% of Republicans. Independents were at 70%. White evangelicals stand out among religious groups, but PRRI reports religious and partisan results separately. The survey doesn't establish how much white evangelicals contribute to the Republican-Democratic gap. Zoom in: The divide also tracks with PRRI's Christian nationalism measure. Among peo