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 that.

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

For sure, our faith motivates us too, 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 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: to serve without reciprocation, suffer without retaliation, and reconcile without domination.

WHY DO YOU FEEL LIKE THINGS ARE WORSE 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 could never have imagined what we are seeing today: the fracturing of communities, the surge of brutality in the United States and across the world, the unprecedented rise of dehumanization. The data and trends are very concerning, not just for the vulnerable but for all of us:

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 more than 115 million people — the highest on record — to abandon their homes for borderlands, where they experience intense cultural dislocation, power asymmetries, and injustice.

3. Fracturing of Truth. We are experiencing an unprecedented breakdown of a shared understanding of truth, where our epistemic realities — what we know to be true — are 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."

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 CHANGES 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 sometimes 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, and feel free to reach out about the other stuff too.

SEND US YOUR COMMENTS AND QUESTIONS