Christian conservative Allie Beth Stuckey has garnered a massive following on social media fame with her podcast and YouTube channel Relatable for her fiery support for biblical gender roles and opposition to feminists, same-sex marriage, birth control, IVF, and abortion. In her view, true compassion, rooted in scripture, is being co-opted into secular left-wing political poison.
An August profile in The Atlantic dubbed her the "new Phyllis Schlafly," a reference to the late far-right firebrand who drove the Equal Rights Amendment to defeat. There's certainly a parallel in their take-no-prisoners rhetorical style. In a post-presidential-debate Relatable episode, titled "Kamala Lied, Babies Died," Stuckey likened Vice President Harris to the devil. "Remember," she said, "Satan disguises himself as an agent of light."
PW talked with Stuckey about her book, Toxic Empathy: How Progressives Exploit Christian Compassion (Sentinel, Oct.)
When did you discover your passion for convincing people to share your perspective?
I was always a talker and I love words. In second grade, at my Christian school, my teacher called me "persuasive." Maybe this was one of the first signs to my parents that communicating and trying to get people over to my side on any particular issue is something that I would be doing long-term. What it ended up being was my commitment to conveying Christian values.
During the turbulent 2016 election season you were giving speeches to women about the issues at stake. What did it mean to you to launch your own show Relatable in 2018 and later your own media company?
I have the freedom to talk about things that I really care about and what I really care about, what I really love, what tickles my brain more than anything else, is theology. How do we navigate the craziness of politics and culture in this changing world from a biblical perspective? How do the principles that we find in Scripture. that are time-tested and true, apply to everything that's going on today? My first book in 2020 (You're Not Enough (And That's Okay): Escaping the Toxic Culture of Self-Love), was more theological. This book is like the wedding of politics, policy, and theology. God cares about policy and people.
Toxic Empathy takes a sledgehammer to five favorite culturally liberal claims ranging from "Abortion is Health Care" to "Social Justice is Justice." You, on the other hand, declare in your book, "Social Justice Kills." How so?
The social justice gospel is one of the most destructive heresies of the Church, because it is not the salvific gospel. It's basically saying that the reason that Jesus came was actually just to teach us how to be a good person and how to mobilize politically on behalf of the marginalized. Of course, I do believe in taking care of those who are truly vulnerable. But the gospel of salvation through Jesus Christ is not just about how to be. It's not just about our horizontal relationships. It's primarily about our vertical relationship with God. The social justice gospel is just horizontal. It believes that in order to be a true Christian, you really have to be progressive and use the government to do what Christians were called to do, which is take care of the poor.
In your book, you conclude, "Love must be tempered by God's call to truth and obedience or it's not real love." And "Christ's followers can stand firm against the chaos of the world." Are these your goals for Toxic Empathy?
When it comes to politics and culture, to the big issues—marriage, gender, immigration, social justice, race—I want you to be fully equipped and unafraid to present an argument that has been thought through. I am giving you the facts, the history, the scripture, so you feel confident, locked and loaded with a logical, historical, and biblical defense for why you believe what you believe.
