Below is a rolling set of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) that seek to respond to our Substack, where we have been writing about human dignity, empathy, and faith. Please send us your thoughts, either directly or through the form below. Your questions and comments help us dig deeper. We, too, are on a journey to love better, with more humility, even as we call out what we feel is wrong today.

WHAT IS MOTIVATING YOU TO WRITE ABOUT HUMAN DIGNITY?

It's a lot easier to stay quiet and avoid controversial things. We understand why people may be tentative. A lot of people we talk to don't believe they can make any difference. We get that. We're also trying to find our way. But too many of our friends — and friends of friends — are facing overwhelming injustice today, much more than in the past. To be silent in the face of their suffering feels wrong somehow, like we are participating in their pain.

We are convinced that if most people really understood and felt what many people are enduring across the world, and here in the United States, they would stand up too. Maybe even shout from rooftops. There are so many people who genuinely want to understand, and who are inclined toward mercy. We are motivated by them.

Chances are you are already convinced, and maybe already shouting (with grace and poise, of course!). If what we are saying encourages you in any way — or helps you talk to someone who feels something just isn't right — then what we are saying is worth it. Even for one person. Truly.

Our faith motivates, not least because many of the faith communities we love seem increasingly bent on serving themselves while ignoring "the least of these." We believe faith is ultimately judged by what it does, not by what it claims.

At the same time, we are inspired by our friends in certain faith communities — across a whole range of traditions — who are pressing for something more, something deeper, something that looks like justice but feels like mercy. Martin Luther King, Jr. said it best: we must serve without reciprocation, suffer without retaliation, and reconcile without domination.

ARE WE ACTUALLY WORSE OFF TODAY?

We have been at this a long time — a decade in Africa plus travel to so many countries we've lost count. Honestly, in our lifetimes, we never could have imagined what we are seeing today —the fracturing of communities, even families and close friendships due to political polarization. The surge of brutality in the United States, especially of immigrants, and across the world in places like Gaza and Sudan. The data and trends are very concerning, not just for the vulnerable but for all of us.

We’d distilled seven of the most concerning trends:

1. Proliferation of Global Conflicts. At the highest level since World War II, wars and conflicts are uprooting lives on a massive scale, deepening hunger, concentrating poverty, and accelerating trafficking.

2. Surge in Forced Migration. Conflict, extortion, and persecution have forced 120 million people — the highest on record — to abandon their homes for borderlands, where they experience intense cultural dislocation, power asymmetries, and injustice.

3. Splintering of Shared Reality. We are experiencing an unprecedented breakdown of a shared understanding of reality. What we know to be true — what philosophers call “our epistemic reality” — is splintering into algorithmically curated echo chambers, information bubbles, and alternate realities, many reckless with verifiable facts, some prone to conspiracy.

4. Erosion of Empathy. Empathy is experiencing a decades-long decline. It is mocked as naïve today, dismissed as "toxic," and called a sin. Meanwhile, hate crimes have increased by more than 80 percent. A society that loses the reflex to feel another's pain loses the reflex to protect another's dignity.

5. Rising Authoritarianism. The increase in authoritarianism today represents a shift away from democracy toward systems that concentrate power in a single leader or small elite, often by dismantling independent institutions, suppressing media, and marginalizing political opposition.

6. Unprecedented Dehumanization. We no longer merely disagree with our neighbors — we increasingly despise them. Two out of three Americans consider "the other side" to be "less than fully human," with nearly half saying they are "downright evil."

7. Soaring Inequality. The gap between the world's wealthiest and everyone else has widened for decades, with a small number of people now holding a disproportionate share of global wealth while billions struggle to meet basic needs. When human dignity increasingly depends on how much you own, something in the world has gone deeply wrong.

WHY ARE YOU MIXING FAITH WITH POLITICS?

Politics, at its root, is about how people treat people. Jesus, was not a politician, but he was political. He sided with the poor, the marginalized, the immigrant and the prisoner. He stood for truth, mercy and love. We believe, with British theologian, N.T. Wright, that it is “impossible for genuine faith not to influence a person's politics."

For us, loving our neighbors means engaging politically. But we are cautious about choosing any one political party or platform. Our friend, Tim Keller, warned against this. We are not members of either party, and we have voted for candidates on both sides of the aisle over the years.

We first learned to engage our faith and politics when we hosted Laura Bush as part of the First Lady’s tour of Africa, which included World Relief Rwanda. We celebrated the Bush Administration’s life-saving efforts to thwart the AIDS epidemic through the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), an initiative that saved the lives of tens of millions of children. At the same time, we spoke out against the Administration when it chose to invade Iraq, costing hundreds of thousands of lives, especially Iraqi civilians.

Years later, during the Obama Administration, we supported a bipartisan group of senators — which included Lindsay Graham, Marco Rubio, Chuck Schumer, John McCain and others — toward common sense immigration reform, which was strong on border security and compassionate toward immigrant families. But we challenged the Obama Administration’s proposal to fund abortions abroad with American tax dollars. President Obama’s chief of staff, Dennis McDonough, a devout Catholic, was instrumental in stopping this proposal.

ARE YOU IN FAVOR OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION?

We agree with the vast majority of Americans — 80% — who support or strongly support deporting immigrants without permanent legal status who have been convicted of a violent crime. That includes more than 90% of Republicans, 81% of independents and 75% of Democrats.

But our government is deporting trusted, hard working neighbors, families, and friends. Recent data shows that only 3% of detainees had a violent felony conviction. Lorenzo Salgado, for example, was a husband, father, and business owner who lived in the United States for 35 years. He had no criminal record, and was actively applying for legalization when he was shot and killed by ICE.  Lorenzo was navigating a highly bureaucratic process in a broken system, certainly not what our grandfathers experienced. Dressed in her “Bluey pajamas,” the three-year-old daughter of Joan Sebastian Guerrero — who was a legal resident — watched her dad get shot give times.

When it comes to immigration policy, there is a common sense way forward involving six principles:

• Respect the God-Given Dignity of Every Person: Recognizing the Imago Dei (image of God) in every human being.

• Protect the Unity of the Immediate Family: Prioritizing policies that keep families together rather than separating them.

• Respect the Rule of Law: Enforcing laws while ensuring that the legal system is both just and responsive to needs.

• Guarantee Secure National Borders: Securing borders through necessary personnel, infrastructure, and technology to halt unlawful entries and manage lawful ones.

• Ensure Fairness to Taxpayers: Requiring that immigrants work, pay taxes, and remain self-sufficient.

• Establish a Path Toward Legal Status and/or Citizenship: Providing a way for those who qualify to become permanent residents, often by admitting to legal violations and paying restitution or fines.

Politicians from both sides of the aisle — including, over the past two decades, Marco Rubio, Lindsay Graham, James Langford, John McCain, Chuck Schumer and many others — worked closely with faith communities and business leaders from across the United States to recommend a set of policies based on these principles. Millions of people supported the plan. The plan was good for our communities, our economy and our country. But two efforts — one during the Bush Administration and another during the Obama Administration — were sabotaged by talk radio, and a third, led by Republican Senator James Langford in 2025, was shut down by President Trump. All these proposals were common sense, bipartisan proposals that would have solved many of our immigration problems. They rejected the false binaries of “Amnesty” and “Mass Deportation,” which are unrealistic and bad for our country and, instead, proposed practical solutions. Why were these initiatives shut down? Some Republicans decided to make immigration a divisive, wedge issue so they could win more elections.

ARE YOU RAISING MONEY FOR YOUR CHARITY?

We wholeheartedly believe in the initiatives we are facilitating through our nonprofit, Together International, a registered 501(c)(3) charity in the United States. But we believe those who want to give will give. We reject high-pressure approaches to fundraising and instead live each day to build relationships and tell stories. From a financial perspective, we are organized to create a low-cost structure that allows philanthropic gifts to go 100% toward serving people.

WHAT ARE YOU HOPING FOR?

Our hope is actually simple, but not easy. We long for people to care, especially for people who are suffering. Here's where it gets hard: caring requires us to see beyond our border fences, beyond where we are familiar or comfortable, and to see people as people, not as problems. Once we start seeing people, it's natural to care. Once we care, we start living differently.

WHAT CAN I DO?

Simple things — a kind word, smile, or gesture — can have real impact at a time when the world is starving for compassion. All of us can do that. We are learning that being present — truly present — with one person can contains more power than a mountain of vision, strategies, skills, and funding. Of course those things aren't bad — we specialize in them! — but change starts from the heart. Begin there.

SEND US YOUR COMMENTS AND QUESTIONS